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Daphne was a naiad of the River Peneus, as well as the first love of Apollo.

History[]

Early life[]

Daphne was one of the many daughters of the potamoi Peneus, and lived with her father and sisters in Thessaly. Having heard the numerous tales of how the lovers of the gods almost always met with tragic ends, Daphne had sworn off love affairs.

Chase of Apollo[]

Apollo's first love was Peneian Daphne, a love which did not arise from mere chance, but from the fierce wrath of Eros. For Apollo, after Python was defeated, became arrogant and when he saw the love god bending his bow with a string.

Thus he spoke, and as the air was stricken by his beating feathers, he swiftly came upon the citadel of Mount Parnassus, and out of his arrow-bearing quiver he brought forth two darts with different effects: one begets love, the other drives it away. The one that begets it was gilt, and glittered with a sharp point, while the one that drives it away was duller, and had lead beneath the shaft. The god shot this one into Daphne, but with the other he wounded Apollo's marrow through the bone. Immediately, one was incensed by love while the other fled the lover, hiding in the recesses of the wood.

Many then sought her, although she rejected them all and wandered the forest, uncaring for Love and marriage.

Apollo, however, loved her and desired to marry her. What he desired, he hoped for, and his own oracles deceived him. But she still fled, quicker than a light wind, nor did she heed his words.

As he attempted to speak further, she fled in a fearful course, leaving his unfinished words with him. However, Apollo, assisted by the wings of Love, was quicker, looming over her back and blowing the unbound hair upon her neck. When at last her strength was lost, she paled, wearied by the toil of her swift flight, and invoked her father, gazing at his waves. Her prayer was hardly uttered when a heavy sluggishness seized her limbs and her chest was surrounded with a thin bark. Her hair grew into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet (so swift of late) stuck to the ground with roots, and the top of a laurel tree enfolded her face; only her beauty remained.

Legacy[]

Heartbroken by the transformation that meant he had irrevocably lost Daphne, Apollo burst into sobs of despair. Thus he declared that he still would honor her in his own unique way: he would wear a crown of her leaves and the laurel tree would become a symbol of victory for all time.

The Trials of Apollo[]

The Hidden Oracle[]

Daphne is consistently mentioned throughout the book. Apollo refers to her as one of his two greatest loves and still mourns her loss, to the extent where any reminders - intentional or not - of her would almost reduce him to tears. While he initially blames Eros for his loss of her, Apollo later confesses that he has no one to blame but himself, for he should have let her go when she rejected his courtship.

Physical Appearance[]

In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Daphne was described to be beautiful in the typical way that naiads were. However, due to Eros' arrow of love, when Apollo first saw her, he thought she was even more beautiful than Aphrodite.

In The Hidden Oracle, Apollo described Daphne to be a beautiful woman with a lithe form, offset green eyes, a slightly crooked nose, and a lilac scent. There was a resemblance between her and Meg McCaffrey.

Abilities[]

  • Hydrokinesis (formerly): As a naiad, Daphne had considerable control and manipulation over water, but it was restricted to the specific water body she presided over.
  • Superhuman Speed (formerly): Like most nymphs, Daphne developed great speed by escaping from gods. She initially was faster than Apollo during their chase, though he wasn't at his fastest for his love declarations and even then, he eventually caught up.

Trivia[]

  • Daphne represents dawn and how Apollo chased her for love represents how dawn ends when the sun is high enough.
  • Depending on the version of the myth, Daphne might have invoked Gaea or Zeus instead of Peneus.
The Trials of Apollo
Core Series: The Hidden Oracle | The Dark Prophecy | The Burning Maze | The Tyrant's Tomb | The Tower of Nero
Main Characters: Apollo/Lester Papadopolous | Meg McCaffrey | Percy Jackson | Peaches | Leo Valdez | Calypso | Grover Underwood | Piper McLean | Jason Grace | Reyna Ramírez-Arellano | Frank Zhang | Hazel Levesque | Lavinia Asimov | Nico di Angelo | Will Solace | Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Secondary Characters: Chiron | Austin Lake | Kayla Knowles | Hemithea | Josephine | Georgina | Lityerses | Trophonius | Gleeson Hedge | Mellie | Chuck Hedge | Medea | Herophile | Crest | Don | Tyson | Ella | Tarquin | Luguselwa | Claudia | Janice | Blaise
Minor Characters: Sally Jackson | Thalia Grace | Mrs. O'Leary | Festus | Cade | Mikey | Harley | Connor Stoll | Miranda Gardiner | Cecil Markowitz | Ellis Wakefield | Sherman Yang | Damien White | Malcolm Pace | Paolo Montes | Valentina Diaz | Germani | Agamethus | Olujime | Phillip McCaffrey | Hunter Kowalski | Sssssarah | Prickly Pear | Aloe Vera | Joshua | Naevius Sutorius Macro | Incitatus | Tristan McLean | Bombilo | Aurum | Argentum | Julia | Jacob | Dakota | Poison Oak | Screech-Bling | Annabeth Chase | Elon | Mamurius Veturius | Mimi
Olympian Gods (Greek & Roman): Zeus/Jupiter | Hera/Juno | Poseidon/Neptune | Demeter/Ceres | Ares/Mars | Athena/Minerva | Apollo/Apollo (Roman) | Artemis/Diana | Hephaestus/Vulcan | Aphrodite/Venus | Hermes/Mercury | Dionysus/Bacchus | Hades/Pluto
Minor Gods: Nero | Commodus | Caligula | Iris | Britomartis | Styx | Terminus | Lupa | Terpsichore | Harpocrates | Cardea
Titans: Rhea | Leto | Mnemosyne | Helios
Monsters and Magical Creatures: Python | Nosoi | Karpos | Palikos | Myrmekes | Colossus Neronis | Blemmyae | Gryphon | Carthaginian Serpent | Scythian Dracaena | Cynocephali | Centaur | Cyclops | Yale | Satyr/Faun | Strix | Dryad | Dragon | Pandai | Eurynomos | Skeleton Warriors | Vrykolakai | Khromandae | Amphisbaena | Troglodyte | Tauri Sylvestres
Related Content: Rick Riordan | Percy Jackson and the Olympians | The Heroes of Olympus | Demigods & Magicians | Camp Half-Blood Confidential | Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio's Journal | Percy Jackson Demigod Collection | Un Natale Mezzosangue | The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure
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