Ares

"You've got quite the fighting spirit in you there, I have to say. Most intriguing, and yet no surprise for someone born in hell itself. You come on out of there, and tell me all about it. I'm a fellow student of death, you see."

- Ares

Ares, also known as Mars, is the God of War, Violence, and Bloodshed from Greco-Roman mythology. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, and is one of the Twelve Olympians who rule over the pantheon from Mount Olympus.

Overview
"The god of war in Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians. Ares is notorious for his temper and cruelty, often being shunned by the other gods. In contrast, the Olympian goddess of war and wisdom Athena is held in a higher regard. Other than Apollo, he is arguably the most aesthetically pleasing to behold."

- The Infernal Compendium

Ares is the god of war, conflict and blood-lust in Greek mythology. He is one of the twelve Olympians and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent and untamed aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and generalship.

The Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares: although he embodied the physical valor necessary for success in war, he was a dangerous force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering." His twin sons Phobos and Deimos and his lover, or sister, Enyo accompanied him on his war chariot. In the Iliad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him.

Ares was most often characterized as a coward in spite of his connection to war; he responded to even the slightest injury with outrage. He is well known as the lover of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who was married to Hephaestus, god of craftsmanship.

Ares' main attribute was a peaked warrior's helm. Even in domestic scenes, such as feasts of the gods, he was depicted either wearing or holding his helm. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality. Ares also had numerous mortal (or divine) offspring. Many of these inherited their father's violent temperament and in myth were often cast in the role of villains. In one myth, he created the Amazons.

Ares is also the counterpart of the Roman god, Mars. Ares, like Mars and Nergal, is a deity associated with the planet Mars.

Appearance
Ares appears as an extremely handsome man with tanned skin and a muscular body akin to that of a well-trained soldier and numerous scars scattered across his torso. He has short, spiky black hair with a buzz-cut on the sides, adorned with vulture feathers at the nape of his neck. His eyes are blood-red and are described to be filled with an endless amount of bloodlust and cruelty. Whenever he's angered, his eyes become blazing pits of reddish-gold fire.

When he first appeared on Mount Olympus, he wore a black jacket on his shoulders, much like a cape, and matched it with a light-gray dress shirt, black pants, and a loosely-knotted tie, along with black boots.

When travelling on Earth, he tends to wear clothes reminiscent of a 1950s rebellious "greaser", similar to most of the war deities. He typically wears ripped jeans, combat boots, a black leather duster, and a red muscle shirt under a bulletproof vest, with a large hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wears a necklace made from a heavy padlock and thick chain, and red-tinted wraparound sunglasses to cover his eyes.

To complete his thuggish biker guise, his war chariot also takes on the shape of a black Harley Davidson motorcycle "the size of a baby elephant" with a flame pattern paint job on the gas tanks.

In battle, he wears a blood-stained Imperial Gold armor that "burns with harsh light", along with a gleaming helmet that covers most of his face, only letting out his glowing eyes that create the illusion of them being on fire. He also carries with him a golden shield decorated with scenes of gruesome deaths that is always smeared and dripping with blood and gore.

Personality
Originally, Ares was an aloof, cruel, impetus, proud, and violent god who seemed to only care about fighting and killing. He was extremely sadistic, roaring with laughter while fighting against stronger opponents. Because of this, he was greatly hated and feared by many, gods and mortals alike.

He was extremely reckless, overconfident, narcissistic, and foolhardy, leading to him making crucial mistakes in a confrontation. He was supremely confident in his abilities, to the point of believing that he was invincible. Despite being a skilled strategist, his temper tended to make him focus on brute strength, and his arrogance often led him to underestimate his opponents, allowing clever fighters with less skills to get the better of him. Because of this, despite being a fierce and excellent warrior, his reckless nature sets him apart from other war deities. He also valued physical strength in a fight, as opposed to astute strategy, and enjoyed bloody wars which he deemed the most vicious, and therefore, the most exciting.

However, after millennia of endless slaughters and senseless wars, he has come to despise war and become more mature and honorable than he was before. Nowadays, he is an informal and to-the-point kind of god, preferring to informal speech and wastes no one's time with his presence any longer than he has to.

Due to his immortality, he envies mortals and their vastly shorter lifespans, as well as their ability to die as opposed to his never-changing status as an eternal god. He believes the brevity of mortal life is what makes it special - A lesson that he passes onto all of his children and their descendants.

Having seen millennia of death and suffering, he comes to value life and strives to protect those he cares about despite the restrictions he has as a god, resulting in him sneaking around and bending the Ancient Laws as much as possible to protect his mortal lovers and children. He also respects the natural order, especially the order of life and death, and can go beyond his way to maintain the balance if necessary.

He has a soft spot for his family, especially for his daughters. And while he can be a strict parent to his demigod children and wants them to be as independent as possible, he is extremely protective of them. In addition, he also cares a lot for his mother and will come to defend her everytime she and his father fight. In Chapter XXX, when he accidentally hit her, he quickly became wracked with guilt and embarrassment.

After greatly suffering under the hands of the Aloadae, he gained a soft spot for prisoners of war and would severely punish anyone who chose to treat them disrespectfully.

Roman Form
Ares can change into his Roman counterpart of Mars. As Mars, he becomes more disciplined as well as even more militaristic and warlike, which is shown by his focus on martial victory rather than sheer conflict. While the Greeks envisioned Ares as a brutal and fearsome being who relished conflict, the Romans viewed Mars as a guardian, one who brought honor and strength in battle and was considered to be the greatest of the gods after Jupiter.

History
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Abilities
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Powers
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Equipment
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Harming, Trapping, & Banishing

 * Witchcraft: As witchcraft is a form of magic wielded by witches to oppose those of heavenly nature, pagan gods such as Ares are susceptible by witchery. There are many witchery spells and rituals that can be used to trap, weaken, and hurt him, with some rituals rumored to be capable of even killing immortals such as the pagan gods.
 * Celestial Weapons: Weapons made out of sacred metals, such as Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, including pagan gods such as Ares.
 * Lack of Worship & Offerings: As a pagan god, Ares gains more power from the prayers, offerings, and sacrifices from mortal devotees, and is dependent on it to maintain his immense divinity. If he stops gaining offerings from his loyal followers, his powers may become immensely weakened. Due to his essence being tied to the Western Civilization, he can gain power from those associated and symbolized by his divine domains, or associated with him or the myths surrounding him.

Killing

 * Divine Weapons: The divine weapons of the gods, which are crafted from sacred metals and are imbued with their wielders' divinity, can be used to kill or injure fellow immortal gods like Ares. However, due to his immense power, only a god’s Symbol of Power is capable of killing him.
 * Enochian Weapons: Ares can be killed using weapons made out of Enochian metals.
 * Longinus: As the Longinus are Sacred Gears made out of Enochian metals of the highest-ranking, forged by Heavens' forges with the highest-quality Enochian technology and are imbued with fragments of the Biblical God's divinity, those with enough skills and experience can absolutely and permanently killed Ares, to the point where he can never be reborn or resurrected again.
 * Faustian Weapons: Ares can be killed using weapons made out of Faustian metals.
 * Primordials' Weapons: Weapons created and wielded by primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely obliterate every and any being in existence but other primordial entities, erasing their entire existence from the worlds so that they can never be reborn, or resurrected again without being saved by God's omnipotence.

Quotes
"Kill it dead!"

- Ares

"War isn't hell kiddo. Trust me, I've witnessed that fiery pits myself. War is much worse..."

- Ares

"I'm not just the god of war, child, I am more than that. I am the god of military might used for a righteous cause. I protect the legions and soldiers on the battlefield. I am happy to crush my enemies underfoot, but I don’t fight without reason. I don’t want war without end."

- Ares

"That means I can smash him into a pulp as often as I want, and he'll just keep coming back for more. I like this idea."

- Ares commenting on Percy Jackson's offer of immortality

"Listen, daughter of Orcus. I don't care about this stupid fight between your Reapers with the Bats, I care about making sure the Sisyphus bullshit won't happen again."

- Ares to Bennia Orcus

"...Although my heart has long since stopped, it yet holds love in it for all the gods, save one, the one who made and ruined me as well. I have no kind words to impart to him, except, perhaps, in form of this concession: War, much like the heavens and the sea, can be considered as a force of nature. It keeps men down; they will never grow too plentiful, this way, or near as mighty as the gods. And yet, men worship Ares willingly; they are so much like him. I should know. I was a warrior myself. Only in death do I begin to fully grasp my wrongs."

- Achilles' notes on Ares

Trivia

 * His birthday is on March 1.
 * He likes B-graded horror movies, whiskey, and baklava.
 * He dislikes senseless wars and conflicts, abuse, and jars, especially pithoi.
 * The planet Mars was named after Mars due to its blood-red color and him being the god of war.
 * The month of March (from Latin Martius) is named after him.
 * Martes and Mardi, meaning Tuesday in Spanish and French respectively, were named after him.
 * The word "martial" derived from Mars.
 * Ares, in terms of rocketry, are three Shuttle-derived launches of vehicles under development under NASA program named after him.
 * He is Zeus' least favorite, and possibly most hated, divine offspring.
 * In myth, he is portrayed as a military general or professional warrior, but in the modern era, he takes on a 1950s "Greaser" persona.
 * He was the one who influenced the American government into allowing ordinary citizens weapons, as well as making the constitution allows more freedom when it comes to punishment by law.
 * He is the only Olympian to ever be put on trial by his fellow gods for murder (of Poseidon's son Halirrhothius). However, as he was defending his daughter from rape, he was ultimately acquitted.
 * The trial is said to have taken place on the Areopagus in Athens, which means "Hill of Ares" as it was named after him in honor of this irregular event.
 * He was very venerated by the Spartans, who would worship him through human sacrifices. They also had a massive statue of him chained in the city's center, which, according to legends, signified Ares' status as Sparta's patron god and would bring its citizens victories as long as it was chained down.
 * He is the Amazons' most worshipped god, as the greatest Amazon warriors are always his daughters and descendants.
 * He was often associated with the northern region of Thrace, whose native people were viewed by the Greeks as barbaric and war-like. It was believed to be his birthplace and many of the native tribes claimed to be descended from him.
 * He hates being compared to his characterization in God of War.
 * He is one of the first Olympian gods to have connections with the Eastern Pantheons, the other two are Poseidon and Artemis.
 * He is the godly father of Sun Tzu - the famous Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher who lived in the Eastern Zhou period of Ancient China. He is the author of The Art of War - an influential work of military strategy that affects both Western and East Asian philosophy and military thinking.
 * According to Sun Wukong, Sun Tzu had actually written The Art of War in honor of his godly father.
 * He is the godly father of Wu Zetian - the famous first and only female emperor of China. Originally just a concubine within Emperor Taizong's harem, she rose to power after marrying and becoming the emperor-consort of his successor, his ninth son Emperor Gaozong. After his death, Wu Zetian became the administrator of the court - a position equal to the emperor until her death.
 * He is the godly father of Nakano Takeko - a famous Japanese female warrior who fought and died during the Boshin War. She and other women stepped forward on the front line without permission, as the higher-ups did not allow them to fight as an official part of the domain's army. As the samurai class abolished and a western-style national army was established with the reformation of the Meiji era, she became one of the last samurai in history.