My version of Persephone
Some time ago a Swedish comics blog reviewed my book Ljusförgörerskan (Destroyer of Light), giving it 5/5. I loved how they described my version of Persephone as “a curvy fertility goddess with hairy legs who loves nature but at the same time is introverted, sometimes quite unsympathetic, and most of the time very foul-mouthed”. It got me thinking, though. Another review described her character as “not always easy to like”. And it’s not that I don’t agree with them, I deliberately wrote her to NOT be a sweet little cinnamon roll (not that there’s anything wrong with being a sweet cinnamon roll, I’m just more fond of “darker” interpretations of Persephone).
What I found a bit funny was that no one has called my version of Hades unsympathetic or not easy to like, despite the fact that he too is cranky, introverted and sometimes quite rude (even if he’s not quite as foul-mouthed as Persephone). Is it because we get to see Hades’ devotion to his work and the dead, while Persephone’s goal in life mostly just seems to be to grow plants, take care of her pet snakes, and be able to have sex once in a while without getting pregnant? Maybe I have portrayed her as slightly more unsympathetic at times. Or is it that we are more used to see male characters behave like this, so we are more forgiving towards them? I think it might be a bit of both.
One of my motivations for portraying Persephone the way I did, was actually that I very seldom saw female protagonists portrayed like that (not to mention female protagonists with hairy legs and armpits).
