#33. Artemis (Mary Washington)

Lore

The Answer

"She didn't even stop to tell me her diabolical plan. One second we were waiting for the usual monologue and the next my entire fleet was just gone."

– Lance Starchampion (in-game quote)


"Destroying Orion isn't the only thing I want to do. But yeah, that's the main thing."

– Artemis (in-game version)


“They grow up so fast.” 

– The Universe, probably. (website quote)

“I don’t only want to destroy Orion. But yeah that’s the main thing.” 

– Artemis (website version)

As the story goes...

Philosophers sometimes talk about "The will of the universe", a consciousness above that even of the gods. We may never know if the universe has a will, but we do know it has an immune response. When foreign matter streaked over the skies of Valhalla, the response was an antibody of celestial proportions. As the name Orion was spoken, Artemis came into being, although she would not call herself that for many years.

Born Mary Washington in West Plaza New York, she was a voracious reader with a love for strawberry ice cream. While Mary had a relatively normal childhood, her parents sometimes wondered why she would stare silently into the night sky for hours or read stories of the goddess Artemis killing the hunter Orion over and over again.

Mary was too eager to confront her opponent. At the first sign of her powers manifesting, she opened a wormhole intending to stride into Valhalla. Instead, she emerged in the vacuum of space. Struggling for survival, she fought to maintain a cocoon of atmosphere siphoned from nearby worlds. In desperation she ripped the core from a nearby star to forge her armor, extinguishing her first solar system. From there she traversed the dangers of the universe, careening through the Tri-Nova, ending Starchampion's fleet, and imploding the Leviathan of Eons, to name a few. Once ready, the completed Artemis arrived in Asgard.

In Valhalla, Artemis is still subject to the rules of local gods and tries to complete her destiny in The Tournament itself. Sensing a common frustration, Nix has taken her under wing and the two often spar to hone their scythe skills. As Orion's reputation grows in the arena, Artemis wonder if all of Asgard might be too infected to save.

Connections

• (No mentions of Artemis in other legends' lore pages have yet been found)

Context

Not sure what sort of "archetype" Artemis would fit into, except perhaps...opposite of Orion? Rival of Orion?

I mentioned this on the Apollo page, but I wonder: Is she really...the Artemis? We haven't heard much about the Greek pantheon in the Brawlhalla universe (though lots of stuff happen in Elyria and Thera, which are probably in the Greek region of the world). Jhala's lore mentions Apollo, and we haven't heard anything of the goddess Artemis. It makes the theorist in me wonder if, for some reason, the goddess Artemis herself was reincarnated by the powers of the universe as the "immune response" to Orion.

For more information about the relationship between Artemis and Orion in Greek mythology, check out Orion's page.

Is she evil or good? It's actually unclear. Lance Starchampion certainly didn't like her ("diabolical plan"). Perhaps because she is associated with "the will of the universe" or something, she is truly neutral.

Scythe and lance are interesting choices for weapons. I don't know why she would have a scythe (especially since the goddess Artemis is a huntress, which would make a bow a better fit). The lance makes more sense to me, though, given that she's meant to be a foil to Orion. Oftentimes, opposites or rivals actually have a lot in common, except for that one crucial detail or two that is different. It makes sense to me that the Enigma (Orion) and the Answer (Artemis) share a common weapon.