Episode 186: Irascible Immortals: Cupid

The folklore of Cupid in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing.

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2025 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about Cupid here.

Get the transcript here.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Newsletter: https://ronel-the-mythmaker.kit.com/671d4c97de
• Audiobooks of the podcast: https://payhip.com/RonelJansevanVuuren/collection/faeries-and-folklore-podcast-audiobooks
• Irascible Immortals books: https://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series/

Learn more about the author and her writing here.

Music: Secrets by David Fesliyan (FesliyanStudios.com) and Dramatic Heartbeat by FesliyanStudios.com

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Irascible Immortals series, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. They’ve been alive forever. They’ve been bored for some time. And now they’re showing it. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series for more.

We’re continuing our exploration of the Immortals.

Today’s immortal: Cupid

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

Roman gods have Greek counterparts. In this case, Cupid is the Roman god of love and Eros is his Greek counterpart. Because these two mythologies are so closely related, I prefer to use one name for both and amalgamate their powers and stories (as is mostly the case anyway).

There’s a reason syphilis is called “Cupid’s Disease” as he was transformed into a sensual love god after the time of Alexander the Great. It was the Victorians who infantalised him and stuck him on Valentine’s Day cards.

Greek and Classical Roman poets wrote about Cupid, and they weren’t too happy with him, Homer going so far as to blame him for the Trojan War. 

As Eros, he started out as the son of Chaos, but later became the son of Aphrodite by Zeus or Ares or Hermes. As Cupid, he was the son of Venus (Aphrodite) and Mercury (Hermes). As time went on, he went from a handsome young man, to a youth, to an infant. As a winged infant, he carried a bow and quiver full of arrows – he shot his victims and filled them with love and passion. He’s a mischievous god and viewed as harmless in his matchmaking. 

According to Ovid, he had a lead tipped arrow that made people fall out of love or even hate others. His other arrows are usually gold tipped and make people fall in love. In most tales, he has golden wings like a bird.

His wife is Psyche, despite his mother’s jealousy over the mortal’s beauty (she became immortal as his wife). The story of him meeting his wife is one of the most famous folktale featuring him. Which just shows that he wasn’t a youth or infant…

Origin of the fae: Cupid

Cupid likes to look like a handsome young man, though when needed, he looks like an infant for branding purposes. He is one of the only love gods who makes sure that humans remember him.

He is multilingual and can turn any language into the language of love.

He can become invisible, just as folklore suggests, though his wife has always had the power to see right through him. He likes to flirt, getting him in trouble not just with various goddesses, but also with his wife. Despite what others think, he stays true to his wife, Psyche.

He is handsome, though no-one really knows what he looks like as he changes appearance to fit what the viewer finds most appealing.

His idea of matchmaking is creating chaos with his arrows, just for the fun of it. He thinks that modern humans are ridiculous trusting technology to find a love-match with dating apps, so he runs a couple of his own and shoots digital arrows at people to see what happens.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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