Episode 208: Irascible Immortals: Love Gods

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

Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.

Copyright 2026 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.

Learn more about Love in Folklore 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 subject: Love in Folklore

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

Love has always played a major role in stories. The curse in Beauty and the Beast could only be broken by love. A frozen heart could only be thawed by true love in Frozen (and in Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen on which it’s loosely based). In the Brothers Grimm’s folktales, Briar Rose and Snow White could only be saved by love. Though, it could be argued that in Grimm’s folktales it was lust and not love that drove the princes to save the princesses.

In mythology, there is no clear line between love and lust and so a deity would be worshipped for both. I’ve already covered how Freyja, Cupid, Isis and Aphrodite fill this role.

In Greek mythology there are an abundance of love stories that are influenced by others, usually Aphrodite or Cupid. The tragic tale of Apollo and Daphne ends with the nymph turned into a tree after Apollo was shot with an arrow to fall in love and Daphne to reject all love. Paris’ obsession with Helen has a war break out that changes Greece forever as Troy is sieged, all thanks to Aphrodite. Narcissus’ obsession with himself has the nymph Echo lose herself and become a cautionary tale about love. The sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with the statue he created and asks Aphrodite to turn her into a real woman… At least Cupid and Psyche’s love story turned out well.

The ultimate story of forbidden love has to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We all know it: for some daft reason that no-one remembers the Capulets and Montagues are at odds; Romeo and Juliet fall in love even while knowing they shouldn’t; they try and fail to be together; she fakes being dead; he kills himself in grief and she follows suit.

Okay, so perhaps there’s more to the story to make it so lasting. Various retellings – mostly in movies – have come and gone. In Titanic, Rose and Jack are separated by class. Yet he saves her in every way a person can be saved. And though he dies (spoiler alert) she loves him even beyond death.

In medieval romances, the most prominent story arc is Queen Guinevere’s love affair with King Arthur’s chief knight, Lancelot. In most modern versions though, Guinevere stays faithful to Arthur despite feelings she might have for Lancelot.

The tale of Tristan and Isolde was made popular through French medieval poetry. It’s inspired by the Celtic legend of the Cornish knight and the Irish princess who accidentally ingest a love potion causing them to fall madly in love even though the princess is to marry the knight’s uncle. The potion’s effects last a lifetime.

There are various love gods that influence the lives of mortals, bringing either tragedy or comedy, but rarely lasting love.

Origin of the fae: Love Gods

Several love deities are involved in the lives of mortals. Prende, Ziva, and Aine to name a few. Some stick to what folklore says about them, especially Cupid, as it’s good for branding and has humans remember and worship them. Others have gone from playing with the emotions of humans, to giving good advice – in love songs, romance novels, advice columns and more. Most see it as a serious task to keep love alive in the hearts of mortals as hate can so easily consume them. They have an annual love gods’ conference where they swap notes and figure out how to best do their jobs in the future. Aine, a Celtic goddess of love, is in charge of the love gods as most can’t tolerate each other, but they all respect her.

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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