Lore

Castor is Lore’s best friend and a member of the House of Achilles. At the end of the previous Agon, he ascended as the new Apollo and spent the intervening seven years in a weakened state, unable to manifest a physical form. As a result, back in a mortal body, movement feels awkward and jerky, like “a rusted machine struggling to find its usual flow” (20). Before ascending, Castor had a type of leukemia that made him an outcast among the other training Achillides. As a Perseide training with Achillides, Lore was also shunned, which brought them together. Castor is the one person Lore can fully trust and rely on, and his seven-year disappearance left her feeling neglected.

In contrast to Lore’s bitter anger, Castor approaches the Agon with acceptance. While he doesn’t like the hunt or how his own house devalues his existence, he understands hunters are humans with their own complicated emotions. He genuinely wants to help the Achillides and feels as though leaving them to Wrath is abandoning them. Despite his overwhelming attitude of acceptance, Castor has a burning need to prove himself, a result of the Agon’s effect on his personality.

Athena is the Greek goddess of battle and strategy, as well as the protector of cities. She is one of the few remaining original Olympians and has ageless eyes that have measured the passing of millennia “the way Lore would casually note the hour of the day” (34). As an immortal, Athena has nearly infinite patience, and her gift for strategy allows her to plan strikes and counterstrikes with precision detail. Athena represents the treatment of women in the Agon’s world. Though she was born from wisdom and more intelligent than many of her godly counterparts (both original and reborn), she has been pushed aside for millennia. To truly be heard in the past, she disguised herself as a man because she found men tended to only listen to other men. Even while she was belittled, she sought the approval of Zeus (her father), and at the end of Lore, she placates Wrath (who is reborn of her brother Ares) to soothe his male ego. Athena shows the sacrifices women make to satisfy men. She symbolizes how gender inequality is based in a culture’s preserved history that’s passed down through generations. Change is possible, but the society has to want it.

Miles is Lore’s friend and roommate. He is a gay man who has tattoos all along his skin because he “treated his body like a piece of art” (24). Miles is the one person in Lore’s life who was truly untouched by the Agon. He is pulled into the hunt’s world when Athena arrives at the brownstone, and he takes to the life quickly. Miles represents how the Agon is not a choice. It affects everyone, whether they know of its existence or not.

Van is a member of the House of Achilles and Castor’s cousin. He is a Black man who was “raised by parents who spoke in cut-glass accents” (151), and he ends the story in a tentative relationship with Miles. Van represents the ego of the Agon world. After losing his hand, he was relegated to information collecting, but this didn’t dim his confidence. He knows his strengths and is good at what he does, despite being looked down upon by the warriors. His upbringing coupled with his need to prove himself made him develop a superiority complex. He treats Miles as if he’s worthless for much of the book, simply because Miles was not born into the Agon. Where Lore worked to escape the Agon, Van worked to stay. His version of escape is to bring down the organization, and its ego, from within.

Wrath is the godly name of Aristos Kadmou, leader of the Kadmides, and the current Ares. Wrath represents Lore’s fear. For most of the book, Lore believes Wrath murdered her family, and just thinking his name makes her panic. Wrath also represents the male-dominated world of the Agon. As leader of the strongest house, he is not “one for small purposes or quiet aims” (103). He has power and influence over both the Kadmides and other houses, even before he ascends. He believes he can pay his way through life and, if that fails, use violence to achieve his goals. In the Agon’s world, these tactics work most of the time, reinforcing his belief in his own superiority.

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and looks “as if she’d been carved from the darkness of a deep and ancient wild” (124). She blames Castor for the death of Apollo (her brother) and hunts him. At the awakening, Artemis and Athena made a deal that Athena would provide Artemis with Castor to kill, a fact Athena keeps secret for most of the book. Athena convinces the group Artemis is insane as part of her deception, making Artemis a main vehicle for Athena’s part in the story.

Iro is a member of the House of Odysseus and the only friend Lore had when she briefly lived with the Odysseides. In the first half of the book, she foils Lore in terms of belief in the Agon’s world. While Lore wants to be free to make her own choices, Iro relishes the hunt and the ability to gain kleos. After Castor’s resurrection in Chapter 38, Iro comes around to Lore’s way of thinking. The death and destruction crack her belief in the Agon, and she understands Wrath must be stopped.

Though he’s only seen in the Prologue, Hermes represents the last godly stand against Wrath. As Gil, Hermes protected Lore and, by extension, the location of the aegis during the seven years between Agons. Hermes’s character is ironic. He is the person who allowed Lore to believe she escaped the hunt while all along being part of the Agon’s world. He seems to be the most level-headed of the gods, and Lore’s memories of him suggest he offered her strong advice about being true to herself and what she wants, showing that not all gods are power-hungry.

As a unit, Lore’s family represents everything Lore hates about the Agon—destruction of life. The images of their bodies haunt her waking mind and her nightmares. The Agon took them from Lore, and she removes herself before the hunt can take anything else she loves. Later in the book, her family changes from a source of pain to a source of strength, giving her the push she needs to survive and conquer Wrath.

Philip Achilleos is the leader of the Achillides. He represents the cutthroat nature of the Agon and how men will do anything for power. Though there is a stigma and possible curse for those who kill a god within their own bloodline, Philip is willing to risk the consequences to kill Castor and ascend.

The Reveler is Dionysus reborn. He is one of the two gods who almost breaks Athena’s web of lies. He tells Lore that Gil was Hermes, which sets Lore down the path of questioning everything she thought she knew the last seven years.