Hephaestus in Folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast

ByRonel Janse van Vuuren
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Episode 172: Irascible Immortals: Hephaestus

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

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: Hephaestus

Folklore in a nutshell

Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, but he is also a blacksmith and craftsman. He is associated with volcanoes, metalworking and more. He made the winged helmet and sandals for Hermes, the armour for Achilles, the Aegis that Athena usually carries around, and some fine traps for gods – such as the net he caught Ares and Aphrodite in – among other things. Except for in the Iliad, he is married to Aphrodite – according to Homer he is married to Charis, the youngest of the Graces or Charities. Homer probably wanted Hephaestus to have a faithful, kind wife. According to Homer, he also built automatons, especially the handmaidens made of gold that assisted him while walking (which he later replaced with mechanical legs), and some guard dogs of gold and silver that would never age.

According to most myths, he was born lame and thrown from Olympus by Hera who wanted a perfect son. This, of course, caused more damage. The Nereid Thetis – Achilles’ mother – raised him. He was thrown a second time from the sky by Zeus when he interceded for Hera during an argument his parents were having. It took Dionysus making him drunk to get him to return to Olympus.

Hephaestus is usually depicted as a burly man, in a simple sleeveless tunic, with the tools of his trade with him: an anvil, hammers, tongs, bellows and more. His workshop was first atop Mount Olympus, but in later myths his workshop is beneath a volcano and he also has an entourage of giant Cyclopes who work with him.

Despite his great gift of being able to craft anything, the other Olympians unjustly rejected him because of his disability – including his wife, Aphrodite. Perhaps it’s best for him to be married to Charis, instead. At least in those myths, he has plenty of offspring.

Origin of the fae

Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire, volcanoes and craftsmanship. He can make anything – and experiments a lot. He got divorced from Aphrodite a long time ago and married the youngest of the Graces and is quite happy. Despite the way his family treats him because of his disability, he still loves them and makes some trinkets for them from time-to-time. He prefers living beneath a volcano that shall not be named with his wife and Cyclopes – and any apprentices brave and strong enough to entreat him.

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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