HECATE
Real Name
: Hekate (original spelling)Occupation: Goddess of witchcraft, crossroads and the underworld, Patron deity of witches
Legal Status: Citizen of Tartarus
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Hecate except as a mythological character.
Other Aliases: Dread Persephone, Parcae (Roman name), Trivia, Brimo, (Hecate was also confused with the goddesses Persephone, Selene and Artemis.)
Place of Birth: Unrevealed
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Perses (father), Asteria (mother), Leto (maternal aunt), Apollo, Artemis (cousins), Crius, Coeus (grandfathers), Eurybia, Phoebe (grandmothers), Scylla (daughter by Phorcys), Zagreus (son, deceased)
Group Affiliation: The Gods of Olympus
Base of Operations: Tartarus
First Appearance: Ms. Marvel #11
History: Hecate is the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asteria, the goddess of night. A Titan herself, she was one of the few Titans to remain in power after Zeus conquered Olympus. Zeus came to her previously to seek her support and that of the underworld in overthrowing his father, Cronus, from Olympus. She might have been the mother of his first-born son, Zagreus, a role often confused with Zeus’s daughter, Persephone. Zagreus was later killed by the Titans exiled to Tartarus by Zeus, but Hecate showed Zeus how to restore him to life and Zagreus was eventually reborn as Dionysus, the wine-god. (Later stories claimed Zagreus was the son of Zeus and Persephone). As an underworld goddess, Hecate was convinced she was to rule the underworld as wife to Hades but was offended when he abducted Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, to be his bride. She retaliated by becoming a goddess of the occult and teaching the secrets of life and death and revealing the natural anathema of the objects of earth to mortals who would become the first practitioners of witchcraft. She also chose to make things difficult for Hades by helping Demeter in her search for her missing daughter. Her mortal priestess, Eidyia, had several children by King Aeetes of Colchis; one of whom, Medea, became one of her most devout followers, but learned much of her own magic from the goddess Circe herself, sister of her father.
Although Hecate’s affairs committed her to the underworld, she was also devoted to the protection of Olympus and fought on behalf of the Olympian gods on more than one occasion. When Giants attacked the home of the gods, she slew the Giant Clytius with flames of brimstone on behalf of the Olympian gods.
In recent years, Hecate became the patron goddess of sorceresses, specifically witches, such as Agatha Harkness, Angelique Bouchard, Penelope Halliwell and Sara Bailey of the Twentieth Century. In her prophetic visions, she observed the Elementals Hydron, Magnum, Hellfire and Zephyr trapped in inter-dimensional space and freed them. She learned they were seeking a powerful ruby scarab and went to stop them. The costumed heroine, Ms Marvel, acting on a premonition of her friend Salia Petrie's death on a space shuttle, encountered the Elementals as well. Thinking she was after the scarab as well, Hecate and Ms Marvel clashed as the Elementals found it first and used it’s powerful magicks to levitate a small island and fling it on top of the feuding females. Hecate blasted it with one mind beam, but the blast also killed Salia Petrie as Ms Marvel had predicted. Realizing that Ms Marvel only cared for her friend, Hecate and the heroine teamed up against the Elementals and defeated them. Ms Marvel, however, regressed into Carol Danvers and took the scarab to use it against Hecate. The scarab, however, merged the personalities of Danvers and Ms Marvel that had been keeping her in turmoil. Before in a moment of peace, she forgave Hecate upon realizing the blast had been an accident. She gave the ruby to Hecate who then took it to keep it from falling further into the wrong hands.
Most recently, Hecate was invoked by the extra-dimensional sorceress Clea in the creation of the being Ardina. She is also repeatedly invoked by the sorceress Circe (not to be confused with the goddess Circe), devout nemesis of the Amazons of earth, particularly Wonder Woman. The true identity of this Circe imposter is unknown, but recent speculation is that she was once Hecate's most favored priestess, Medea from Colchis, and is employed by Hecate to discolor the otherwise chequered history of her rival, Circe. As yet, there is no evidence to support this.
At some point in the past, Hecate lost her memories and identity as one of the Gods of Olympus, but whether this occurred before her encounter with Ms. Marvel or recent is unrevealed. During one of her appearances on Earth, possibly after Circe's last encounter with Wonder Woman, she was captured by the authorities and imprisoned in the Federal prison for superhumans known as the Raft. During an escape by the Juggernaut near New York City, she encountered Hercules and regained her memories, claiming that Zeus had caused her amnesia. (Whether she was telling the truth or relying on hazy unclear images in her mind is unrevealed.) Hecate attempted to conquer Brooklyn as part of an attempt of conquest of the mortal realm, but she was defeated by the Basilisk, Griffin and Man-Bull, other escapees from the Raft, who broke her spells and control over Earth.
Her modern whereabouts are unrevealed.
Height: 6’ 3”
Weight: 465 lbs.
Eyes: Lavender
Hair: Black
Unusual Physical Features: As the Trinity-Goddess, Hecate sometimes
appears in mystical form with three faces. Her size, height and appearance also
varies with the magnitude and ferocity of her spells and powers. When she
appears to Medea on Earth, she often takes the form of an aged crone, one of the
faces of the triune-goddess along with maiden and matriarch.
Strength Level: Hecate possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift
(press) about 40 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Hecate possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Olympian Gods. Like all Olympian Gods, she is immortal. She has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any known conventional means. She is immune to all known terrestrial diseases and is invulnerable to conventional injury. If wounded, her godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for Zeus or a number of gods of equal power working together to revive her. Hecate does have some superhuman strength and her own Olympian metabolism gives her far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympian’s superhuman strength and weight).
Hecate also has exceptional power to tap into and manipulate considerable mystical energies on a level equal or comparable to Zeus, Poseidon or even Hades. She has some sort psionic ability to channel energy, fire explosive rays and turn her thoughts into mass. She can conjure up the worst fears of her foes into their real life solid counterparts, and use psychic energies from fear to fuel her mystical powers, allowing her greater control and precision in her spells and incantations. She can also bestow power upon certain beings or in spells by anyone who knows how to summon her. She has considerable power to perceive visions in the form of premonitions and to alter and change her form and that of others, a power she taught to Zeus in Ancient Greece while they were lovers.
Comments: This bio describes Hecate as she has appeared in both the Marvel and DC Universe; in "Disney's Hercules," she was voiced by actress Peri Gilpin.
Hecate is sometimes erroneously called the mother of the goddess Circe and Medea, the daughter of Aeetes, King of Colchis.
Clarifications: Hecate should not be confused with:
Last updated: 03/22/13