AN: So this isn't another chapter, but rather an explanation of why I made certain characters the gods of certain aspects. As any mythology nerd will tell you, a lot of the things I wrote about in this story are actual myths where the characters are replaced with those from Fairy Tail.
Also please note that because this isn't an actual chapter, I didn't really put any effort into editing it. If there's anything unclear or you just want to have a go at be for being lazy, feel free to put it in the review or PM me.
So here we go, in order of when they were mentioned.
Mt Hakobe – Here, Hakobe is Mt Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, also known as the Olympians, for obvious reasons.
Sidh and dragons – In Greek mythology, the Olympians fought a great war against their forebears, the Titans. Although not related in this story, the dragons are playing the role of the Titans as the powerful and tyrannical rulers of the cosmos and the Sidh play the role of the Olympians, who would overthrow them.
In European tales, dragons are often seen as creatures of chaos and destruction, as well as the more comical parts about them stealing everyone's treasure and kidnapping the princess. In the story of St. George and the dragon, the dragon is a metaphor for paganism, a catch all phrase for any non-Abrahamic religion.
In this story, some dragons, like Natsu and Gajeel, sided with the Sidh instead of fighting with their own kind. This comes from Titans such as Prometheus and Helios who also decided to fight along the Olympians rather than with their own kind.
From Celtic mythology, the Sidh or Sidhe, were the elves and fairies, hence why the fairies from Fairy Tail are called the Sidh in this story. They were to have supposed to have lived in a land called Tir na nOg, or land of the eternal youth which was supposed to be to the west of Ireland, but not on any maps. The denizens of this land were said to spend eternity young, healthy and happy. This was probably also the inspiration for the Western lands from Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf, Frodo and many of the elves went to at the end of Return of the King.
Gajeel as the smith god might be an obvious choice, as might be Sherry's being the goddess of love, but I'm sure a few of you were a bit surprised when I paired them together, or threw them into a love triangle with Ren. This wasn't random on my part. The Greek smith god Hephaestus, was married to the goddess of love, Aphrodite, but she was constantly cheating on him, her most famous lover being the god of war, Ares.
I always felt a bit sorry for Hephaestus when I hear this story. He was a gifted craftsman, but because he was born lame and ugly, he was mistreated by the other gods, including his mother Hera. It was also the reason I didn't follow the original request of making Natsu and Lucy into Ares and Aphrodite respectively.
As for making Ichiya the god of war, or Master of War as I referred to him in chapter 1, well that stemmed, in part, from making Ren Sherry's lover. I kind of felt he always had to be subservient to Ichiya, whatever he was the god of. And then I decided to make Erza the goddess of victory, which then led me to finally decide on Ichiya being the god of war, because what is war if not the pursuit of victory? Ren and the others would serve as Ichiya's subordinate gods, each representing some aspect of war and soldiery.
Lucy as the god of death might have been an odd choice, but I felt it worked for the story. Heavens refers to the skies, which I'm sure you've noticed is filled with stars, some of which make up the various constellations such as Capricorn and Virgo. Heaven is also the seat of god and where Christians go in Christian mythology when they die and connecting the 'Lady of the Starry Heavens' to the afterlife seemed logical. The Fields of Gold is based off the Elysium fields in Greek mythology, which was where the kindest and bravest of people went when they died. Fields of Gold was also the name of episode 198 of Fairy Tail. The Palace of Perdition was where Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Mira, Yukino and the Exceeds ended up after the failed rescue attempt from Mercurius and in this story represents Tartarus, the ancient Greeks version of Hell.
As a particular reviewer noticed, the relationship between Natsu and Lucy is based on that between Hades, the Greek god of death and Persephone, the Queen of the Dead and the goddess of spring. Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Hades fell in love with her and kidnapped her and brought her to the Underworld. Demeter, overtaken by grief, stopped things from growing, bringing a kind of ice age if you like. This carried on for a while before Zeus had enough. He told Hermes to go to Hades and tell him to let Persephone go, as long as she hadn't eaten the food there.
Just as she was leaving, Hades managed to get Persephone to eat the pomegranate seed. As he had eaten the food of the dead, she was required to stay in the Underworld, something which greatly upset Demeter. Zeus made a compromise; for part of the year, Persephone would need to stay with Hades as his wife while for the rest she went to her mother on earth. That time she spent in the Underworld, the earth would become cold and nothing would grow, but when she returned, the plants would grow again. This was how the Greeks explained the difference in season.
Sisyphus wasn't a random character either. In Greek mythology Sisyphus, who was known for his craftiness, tricked Hades into being bound by these unbreakable chains that were originally meant for him. Because Hades was imprisoned, no one could die. This bothered the gods because sacrifices couldn't be made and it particularly irked Ares, because where's the fun in a battle if you can't kill your opponent. Anyway, the gods tortured Sisyphus to make him wish he was dead, forcing him to release Hades, allowing things to die once more.
Sisyphus' pride would also be his downfall. He felt he was craftier than Zeus himself, so to punish him for his hubris, when he did die, he was forced to roll a stone up a hill, only to watch it roll down the hill and start the task again.
Pretty sure that's everything, but if there was anything else you were confused about, please send me a PM and I'll try and answer it.
As usual, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the story and this addendum and please review.