The fates

[Olsen]

Daughters of Themis (the Titan of Justice), The Fates have the incredible power of deciding a man's destiny. There are three Fates, namely Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. The first spins the thread of life, the second measures how long it will be, and the last cuts the thread of life with her shears.

The Fates are old and predate the gods. It is not entirely clear how far their power extends. It is unclear whether they determine the fate of the gods as well. What do you think? Do they?

 

[Isis]

I don't think they determine the gods' fates entirely, but since they control mortals' lives, they must affect the interactions between the gods and the mortals.

 

[ApolloPriestess]

I know I've read it elsewhere but I can't exactly remember where, but this site here: http://www.greek-islands.us/greek-gods/zeus/ says that "Zeus was the sixth child born to Cronus and Rhea and his power, although great, was not boundless, Zeus had no control over the fates and destiny." Which I think kind of makes sense given the fact that Zeus overthrew his father, and his father overthrew his father, so fate existed before Zeus and therefore it's easy to assume that Zeus' ascent was the will of The Fates and also ties in with something I read another time that said The Fates were one of the few beings Zeus actually feared. Of course with Greek Mythology there are so many different versions of the same stories that I don't think one single version is more accurate than another in most cases.

 

[fibi ducks]

I'm trying to grasp what the story of Zeus in the Iliad is. He says Troy is his favourite city. But does he engineer events so that it gets destroyed? I mean maybe the Fates tell him what the plan is, and then he has to make it happen.

 

[Amy Leigh Strickland]

My mother in law is an amazing painter (Terrystricklandart.com) and she told us Wednesday that she's starting the planning stages of a Fates painting. It sounds awesome!

As for what they are, I guess they're primordials like Gaia and Uranos

 

[eirine hatsumi]

I know I've read it elsewhere but I can't exactly remember where, but this site here: http://www.greek-islands.us/greek-gods/zeus/ says that "Zeus was the sixth child born to Cronus and Rhea and his power, although great, was not boundless, Zeus had no control over the fates and destiny." Which I think kind of makes sense given the fact that Zeus overthrew his father, and his father overthrew his father, so fate existed before Zeus and therefore it's easy to assume that Zeus' ascent was the will of The Fates and also ties in with something I read another time that said The Fates were one of the few beings Zeus actually feared. Of course with Greek Mythology there are so many different versions of the same stories that I don't think one single version is more accurate than another in most cases.

there are several versions regarding the fates but this one, i think, is likely correct. zeus has no power over the fates, some say that they do not have forms, that they are like forces. (i cant remember where I read this one, sorry! )

 

[Nadai]

I can't remember where... I think it was either Powell or Ovid... but I remember reading that even the Gods were subject to the Fates.

 

[Nadai]

there are several versions regarding the fates but this one, i think, is likely correct. zeus has no power over the fates, some say that they do not have forms, that they are like forces. (i cant remember where I read this one, sorry! )

Wasn't it the Fates who told Chronus that he would have a sun that would dethrone him just as he did his father...? Or was it Rhea...it was Gaia who helped Rhea hide Zeus until he wsa old enough to overthrow his father?

 

[eirine hatsumi]

some accounts say it's Gaia, not so sure though

 

[Nadai]

Daughters of Themis (the Titan of Justice), The Fates have the incredible power of deciding a man's destiny. There are three Fates, namely Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. The first spins the thread of life, the second measures how long it will be, and the last cuts the thread of life with her shears.

The Fates are old and predate the gods. It is not entirely clear how far their power extends. It is unclear whether they determine the fate of the gods as well. What do you think? Do they?

Gaia predates all the gods. She created herself from Chaos and from her came the rest of the world and the rest of the gods.

 

[Lachesis]

There was an instance where Zeus found out a mortal friend was going to die in battle, and he wanted to stop it, but Hera told him that his respect would be lost if he tried to interfere with the fates.

 

[fibi ducks]

There was an instance where Zeus found out a mortal friend was going to die in battle, and he wanted to stop it, but Hera told him that his respect would be lost if he tried to interfere with the fates.

oh yes, but that was his son, Sarpedon. Zeus did let him die, but rained down tears of blood on the battlefield at that time. You'd think there's be a story somewhere of a god that tried to go against fate and what happened. Does anyone know of one?

 

[fibi ducks]

Or of a human who tried to go against fate

 

[Olsen]

I found some more information about the Fates on another website. It didn't have any bibliographical sources to back it up, so I don't know how reliable it may be. I read that Zeus, if he chose, had the power of saving even those who were already on the point of being seized by their fate. The Fates did not abruptly interfere in human affairs but availed themselves of intermediate causes, and determined the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom was allowed to exercise a certain influence upon them. As man's fate terminated at his death, the goddesses of fate become the goddesses of death, Moirai Thanatoio.

No info about any humans going against the Fates so far...

 

[~DragonRider~]

The fates are annoying. And bossy, they think that everyone just has to do what they want because they can kill them.

 

[Myrddin]

Or of a human who tried to go against fate

Humans go against fate all the time. Technically.

 

[eirine hatsumi]

as of now I don't know any account of a human (in mythology stories) trying to trick the Fates, but I know there's a man who tried to trick death, Sisyphus his name I think, and somewhat almost succeed.

 

[fibi ducks]

Humans go against fate all the time. Technically.

How do you mean Myrddin?

Hi Eirene, sounds like Sisyphus copped it then. Fates 1, sisyphus 0. i'd like to know the whole story. if you remember/have a link could you post it? Thanks

 

[eirine hatsumi]

yup sure fibi ducks, i'll be glad to help!

here is a link about sisyphus http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/cunning-rogue-sisyphus.html
hope it helps! ^_^

 

[Caelus]

I sometimes like to remix the mythology in my head, I've always seen the Fates as the daughters of Chronos (Lord of Time) and a son of Chaos. Which puts the fates in a very different, far older and more powerful, lineage than the young Olympians. So I definately believe that the Fates are dangerous to the gods, in fact there's evidence. The Fates dictated who would win the Giantmachy. They said that unless a mortal intervened on the Olympians behalf, Gaia and her Giants would win Olympus. Sometimes the prophecy is sourced as coming from Hera, however that doesn't make sense to me. The prophecy continued, if the mortal sided with Gaia, then all would be lost. That mortal was Herakles, and he chose to help the Gods.

Also, I can't remember off the top of my head for certain, it was either during the Titanmachy or the Giantmachy, whichever one, the Fate sisters are recorded as helping the Olympians win by killing some of their enemies in battle.