August Blog – The Life of Empress Pyrrha

Empress Pyrrha is another character I can’t wait to write more of. Like Elodie, she suffers a tragic fate that cuts her life short, causing a major transition of power. Because she had no children—though she didn’t intend on having any either—the end of her reign meant the beginning of the line that spawned Griphus. Pyrrha had no anxiety about this fact. And her accomplishments speak for themselves.

Pyrrha created a golden age between Cantata and Eleison, even among the sub-gods, thanks to her relationship with Joachim and Gungaga. She didn’t care much for hierarchies or titles and was a very . . . brazen woman, with a feisty, fiery nature and a willpower few could contest. She spoke her mind and enacted her will and few could stop her. Luckily, few wanted to.

I’ll avoid spoiling the events of the story, but we learn a lot about the end of Pyrrha’s life and how much of her work crumbled. How madness consumed her, to the point where she kind of became . . . the main villain of Noa’s story. If you haven’t gotten there, I won’t say how.

Pyrrha was one of those characters who was intended to be minor. To give the world history. But her voice was just too strong, and she ended up contextualizing much of the past in a way I really love. She serves as a mentor to Noa, and becomes someone that Noa really idolizes. I love the way Noa, a character who always felt she was meant to die, leans into the realm of the dead and learns from ghosts, from the past. She has an affinity for those voices and really internalizing their emotions and their stories. It is thanks to Noa that Pyrrha was even able to forgive herself and Joachim, for the decision he made. It’s painful to think that, despite being confident and forthright, Pyrrha’s maliciousness after death was all because she hated herself.

I’ve been working on writing Hero and Xion’s story, and she even appears there, since Xion followed in her footsteps to seek out the truth of the gods. I wanted to share something that I learned about Pyrrha when I was writing that. Pyrrha was always sneaking to the kitchens! The staff knew her and set food aside for her, but obviously the other gods didn’t much care for her blatant disregard of their inherent authority. It became so commonplace, that the kitchens actually became her secret meeting place, where she would bring literal political documents and decide on governmental matters—with Joachim and Gungaga of course.

And yes, yes they are all in love. Thank you for asking.

I like to think that they’ll all meet again.