Dionysus



Dionysus (Διόνυσος in Ancient Greek) is the god of wine, and the son of the mortal Semele and Zeus. He is also known as Mr. D, the camp director of Camp Half-Blood. Dionysus is not only the god of wine, but also the god of ritual, madness, as well as the 'cult of souls' because of he looked over the communication between the living and the dead and vine. His Roman counterpart is Bacchus.

[edit] History
Dionysus was often called the 'twice born' because of some of the myths around his birth. The most common is that his mother was a mortal woman named Semele, who was a daughter of the King of Thebes, and his father was Zeus.

As with most of Zeus' acts of infidelity, Hera became jealous when she found out that Semele was pregnant with Zeus' child. She disguised herself as a nurse (or old crone in some stories) and made Semele begin to doubt that it was truly Zeus. While in disguise; Hera convinced Semele to ask Zeus to reveal his true form, to make sure that he would do it, and to swear on the River Styx, which is sacred to the Greek Gods and an unbreakable oath.

Zeus tried to get around the promise, but in the end swore on the River, and Semele asked to see his true form. Unable to go back on the promise, he did so, and she was burned to ash.

Zeus managed to save the infant, sewing him into his thigh until he was born a few months later as a full grown baby on Mount Pramnos in Ikaria. He was born a demigod, like Hercules and Perseus.

In his early life Zeus sent Dionysus off with Hermes. Again here, there are two versions of the story. In one version, Hermes took Dionysus to King Athamas and his wife Ino, who was Dionysus' Aunt. Hermes had them raise Dionysus as a girl to hide him from Hera's scorn. The second story is that the boy was taken to the rain nymphs of Nysa. They raised him through infancy and childhood, and in reward for their care, Zeus placed them as the Hyades in the stars. The main idea was to hide the child from Hera's continuing wrath.

When he grew up, he discovered the vine, and extracted the juice. He was struck with madness by Hera at this point, and ended up wandering various parts of the world. Rhea cured him, and taught him her religious rites, and he wandered through Asia teaching about cultivating the vine.

He was very handsome as a young man, eager for challenges. Dionysus later said he was good at nothing in his human life but cultivating wine. The people in his village mocked him, not knowing of his heritage, of his father, or knowing his future, and what he would one day become.

When Dionysus was invited late to the Mount Olympus, it was Hestia who graciously offered him her golden chair to prevent any conflict or embarrassment. Hestia was a goddess known for her warmth and kindness.

Dionysus then rescued his mother from Hades, and she became a goddess on Mount Olympus, with the new name Thyone, presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son Dionysus.

When Theseus abandoned Ariadne sleeping on Naxos, Dionysus found and married her. When she died, he went to the Underworld and rescued her, taking her up to Mount Olympus, where he made her immortal.

He was disguised as a mortal on the seashore once, and a few sailors spotted him. They thought he was a prince, and tried to kidnap him and hold him for ransom or to sell into slavery. They tried to tie him up, but no ropes would hold him. Some ideas are that the material they were made of then was similar to the vines, and would refuse to hold him. At this point Dionysus turned into a lion and let a bear loose on board. It killed those it came in contact with, and those who jumped off the ship were turned into dolphins as an act of mercy. The only one to survive was the helmsman Acoetes, who had recognized him as a god, and tried to stop his comrades from the beginning.

[edit] Camp Half-Blood
After chasing after an off-limits wood nymph twice, Zeus punished him by putting him in charge of Camp Half-Blood for 100 years. During this time, he is not allowed to drink wine or grow wine grapes, even though he did use his powers on other plants such as stawberries. It is hinted that the first time he did caused the Prohibition era. After The Last Olympian, Zeus decides to make Dionysus work at Camp Half-Blood for only fifty more years, as a reward. He appears to have the fewest demigod children out of all the gods, not including the Big Three or the virgin goddesses- only having two sons, his twins, Pollux & Castor- possibly due to his hatred of heroes or his strong dedication to his wife Ariadne on Olympus. Though he does love his sons, as proven in The Battle of the Labyrinth & The Last Olympian when he is shown being depressed after the death of his son, Castor and after becomes discreetly protective of his only child, Pollux.

Added by Trex6Physical Description

Dionysus has a chubby face, curly hair, and usually bloodshot eyes from drinking. He is usually described as wearing tiger-striped Hawaiian shirts and purple running shoes. He is described by Percy as a cherub who had grown up in a trailer park. Anyone can tell he's no stranger to wine just by looking at him.

[edit] Personality
Dionysus enjoys calling people by incorrect names, especially Percy Jackson who he often calls "Peter Johnson". He sometimes does this with campers who have been at camp for a long time, such as Annabeth Chase who he calls "Annie Bell", right after she was captured.

Dionysus lets it be known he cares nothing for the campers, and does not ever show any fondness towards them, though he dislikes Tantalus (who had been treating the campers badly), finds humor in his attempts to grab food, and is happy to send him back to the Fields of Punishment. He is no kinder to Chiron, but never threatens him like he threatens the campers and he likes a good party.

[edit] Powers
Dionysus's powers are based around plant growth with a strong focus on products of the vine. He can quickly summon multiple vines strong enough to ensnare, strangle, and even break his enemies into pieces or encourage more benevolent growth. It is unknown to what degree he can control the growth of plants not based on vines.

As the god of madness, he can easily cure and ease madness, he has the standard powers of a god.

[edit] Children

 * Pollux
 * Castor (deceased)
 * Jack Daniels
 * Thoas
 * Oenopion
 * Staphylus
 * Peparethus
 * Comus
 * Iacchus
 * Phthonus