Artemis is the secondary antagonist of Alexandra Bracken's 2021 Greek Mythology-inspired novel Lore. She is the half-sister to Athena, and one of the two remaining of the original Greek Gods at the start of the last Agon, the event created by Zeus to punish the other Olympians for their near-genocide of Earth.
Biography[]
Birth of the Agon[]
Artemis was one of the many gods of Olympus who took part in slaughtering many mortal humans without reason, which caused Zeus to create the Agon, an event that would make the other Olympians mortal for one week every seven years, to teach them a lesson. During the Agon, any human that killed the now mortal gods would become that god, and gain their powers.
Apollo's Death[]
For centuries, Artemis used her wit and skill to survive the Agon alongside her brother, until one year Apollo was just too wounded. While near death, Apollo saw a human named Castor in a hospital, who was dying of leukemia. Apollo saw that Castor did not fear death, and was even trying to help Apollo despite being sick himself.
Apollo saw Castor's kindness and was overcame by it. Apollo chose to allow Castor to kill him, so that Castor could receive Apollo's powers and be cured instantly of his disease. By allowing himself to be killed by a human, Apollo redeemed his soul, and was allowed to ascend back to Olympus. However, Artemis saw this happen, and due to her unwavering hatred of mortals, all she could see was a mortal killing her brother, and so she swore revenge against Castor, but the Agon ended before she could act, so she was forced to wait another seven years before getting her revenge.
Lore[]
At the start of the next Agon, Athena built a plan to retrieve her Aegis shield, so that they could kill all the other "false gods", and find a way to end the Agon. The plan involved Artemis to wound Athena so Lore would find her wounded and help her, while Artemis went to try and kill Castor, who was now the new Apollo.
By the time Artemis arrived, Lore was already with Castor, so Artemis tried to kill the new Apollo, and angered him by shooting his dog with an arrow, causing Castor to blast her out of the building with his powers and cause her to retreat. The dog did not die, luckily.
Death[]
Artemis would make her return later as she attempted to attack Lore's friend Miles, leading all of Lore's allies, including Athena, to her. Artemis realized that Athena had betrayed her, and went into a frenzy trying to kill Castor atop a waterfall. During her anger, she slipped and fell. Castor tried to save her, but she pulled her hand away from his in disgust, and fell to her death.