Give me the chance and I'll show you that my love for Eurydice is more powerful than death itself.-Orpheus
Orpheus is the son of Morpheus and Calliope. He is a Greek demigod and hero known for his tragic story.
History[]
Marriage and tragedy[]
Orpheus, the bard of Greek myth, is the son of Oneiros, the god of dreams, and the muse Calliope.
On the day of his wedding to Eurydice, his beloved dies tragically after being bitten by a serpent. Overwhelmed by grief, Orpheus pleads with his father Oneiros to help bring Eurydice back to life. But Oneiros refuses, and Orpheus, devastated, disowns him.
Orpheus climbed to the top of a cliff determined to commit suicide and be with Eurydice in the underworld, but before taking the step his uncle Olethros appeared to rebuke him for his attempt to die, instead of dying he could go see Teleute since he can do whatever he wants as long as he sets conditions, Orpheus asks his uncle how to find his aunt and Olethros opens a portal to his home.
In Teleute's house, Orpheus tries to convince her to give Eurydice back to him, but she tells him that her soul no longer belongs to her but now belongs to Hades, the god of the underworld. He then asks her to send him to Hades, which Teleute refuses since he has not died yet. He tells her that he knows from Olethros that he can do whatever he wants. Teleute warns her that if he goes to the underworld and returns, he would never die again. She would have to agree to never take him to the afterlife. Orpheus accepted, and Teleute agreed to take him to Hades.
Teleute using a special key opened a door to the Greek underworld and Orpheus crossed it, finding himself in a cavernous and gloomy kingdom which was filled with hundreds of thousands of souls of the dead, as he walked through the darkness the Furies appeared before him and reproached him for the audacity of being in the land of the dead while still alive, Orpheus asked to see an audience with the kings of the underworld and they granted it to him.
Eventually, Orpheus finds himself before Hades and Persephone. With the power of his music and his sorrow which caused the entire underworld to weep, the souls of the dead to rise into the air and make the Furies to cry , he convinces the kings them to let Eurydice return to the world of the living. But under one condition: during their journey back, he must not look back at her.
Haunted by doubt, fearing that Hades has deceived him, Orpheus turns around just as they are about to reach the surface. Instantly, Eurydice is torn away from him and returned forever to the realm of the dead.[1]
Decapitation[]
Depressed for not having managed to save Eurydice, Orpheus wandered around the world, his mother Calliope met with him and told him that she had left Morpheus for not having helped her with Eurydice, she also warned him that the Maenads, Dionysus's maidens were looking for him, they wanted to kill him, but Orpheus wanted to die and told her that he did not care, Calliope begged him not to do that, but Orpheus walked away and went deeper into the forest.
As night fell, the Maenads finally found him and pounced on Orpheus, mutilating and dismembering him, after finishing, they throw Orpheus's head into the river that goes to the sea and finally ends up on a beach.. However, due to the deal he made with Teleute, Orpheus did not die and on the contrary remained conscious like a severed head. Morpheus found him, Orpheus begged him to kill him but his father refused and told him that this had been the consequence of his actions, and that soon the priests of the island he was on would come for him and left Orpheus who was screaming for him to kill him.
Getting to know Johanna Constantine[]
Thousands of years later in 18th century France after the French Revolution, the Frenchman Robespierre broke into the temple where the head of Orpheus was and stole it from its altar with the purpose of destroying it since the powers it possessed were dangerous for the nation he wanted to create, Morpheus secretly asked Lady Johanna Constantine for help to recover the head of Orpheus.
Orpheus asked Johanna if it was her father who had sent her, Johanna did not answer and told him that they had to escape from France but because they knew how valuable Orpheus's head was, Robespierre and his men ordered the closure of the city, Johanna hid Orpheus in the catacombs along with the rest of the severed heads. Johanna led Robespierre and his men to the place where Orpheus's head was, Johanna found Orpheus's head and asked him to sing, Orpheus began to sing when Johanna asked him to, his song was so powerful that the other heads surrounding him joined in chorus, the song cast a spell over Robespierre and his men long enough for Johanna and Orpheus to escape from France. With Morpheus' instructions, Johanna took Orpheus to a remote, uncharted island off the coast of Greece, where she left him with the priests who lived there.[2]
Family Visits[]
As revealed by Orpheus, during his time in the island, he would be visited by his relatives to keep him company and informed of the current events happening in the world. In his temple, Orpheus would be visited by his mother Calliope and she would speak with him often. He would also be visited by his aunt Despair in secret, he would sing to her and she would answer his questions about his father in exchange, allowing him more insight into him.
After his mother was freed by Dream in recent times, Calliope would visit him once again and inform him about both his mother’s imprisonment and his father’s.
Helping Dream and Death[]
Dream and Dellirium finally decided to go visit the Orpheus' templeto ask him where Destruction is, after a long talk with Morpheus, Orpheus finally revealed that Destruction was hiding on the island next to his own.
Apperance[]
Orpheus was a tall, young, and very attractive man with brown eyes, a long nose, and slightly curly light brown hair. He wore a long, white, ancient Greek gown.
Personality[]
Orpheus was a passionate and determined man who always fought for what he wanted, this is why he became the best musician of his time. He went to the underworld to win back the love of his life to prove that their love could conquer death. However, he was also impulsive stubborn and distrustful, because he disowned his father when he refused to help him get back with Eurydice, he quickly accepted that his aunt Teleute would never agree to take him to the afterlife and disobeyed Hades' order not to look at Eurydice until leaving the underworld; deals that would have worked if he had listened.
After becoming a disembodied head and current oracle, he became somewhat more optimistic and used to make jokes about heads. He was also not resentful towards his father for abandoning him and understood that he only wanted to protect him, which is why he never hated him and on the contrary, forgave him for everything.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Supernatural Musical Talent: Orpheus is an exceptional musician, born from the union of an Endless (Dream) and the muse Calliope. His music possesses supernatural power, capable of charming animals, trees, and even stones. He saved the Argonauts from the Sirens with his singing. In Hades' underworld, his voice moved Hades and Persephone, convincing them to allow him a chance to revive his deceased wife. Furthermore, Orpheus’s song had even the made terrible Furies cry. Something that had never happened before and amazed Persephone and made the Three hold a grudge against him. When he was stolen from his island temple and transported to France, Orpheus showcased the supernatural power of his singing to enchant all of Lady Johanna Constantine’s captors to help them escape.
- Divination: By becoming an oracle, Orpheus acquired prophetic and divination abilities, and was the only one who knew where Olethros was hidden.
- Immortality: He is immortal and will live forever thanks to a deal with Death. Even after being dismembered by the Bacchae, he remains alive in the form of a severed head.
Items[]
- Cursed Earring: As shown when he was stolen from his island and transported to France during the age of Revolution, Orpheus’s golden earring was noted to be cursed. As stated by Orpheus, his earring has been stolen from him numerous times, each time by a person who sought to use its value as gold for personal gain, but each time, whoever stole it suffered horrible fates and died miserably and would continue causing tragedy as it is passed along from one person to another until it eventually finds its way back to Orpheus’s possession.