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| “ | Do you love me? | „ |
| ~ Selemene's most famous quote |
Selemene (also known as the Goddess of the Moon) is the secondary antagonist of Netflix's 2021 animated fantasy series DOTA: Dragon's Blood. She is the main antagonist of Book I, the secondary antagonist of Book II, and a major antagonist of Book III.
She is the former tyrannical Goddess of the Moon of the Nightsilver Woods. She came to power after usurping the previous Goddess of the Moon, Mene, and reigns of over the Dark Moon Order. She is the former lover-turn-arch-enemy of the Invoker, as well as the arch-enemy of Fymryn, who takes over as the new Goddess of the Moon.
She is voiced by Alix Wilton Regan.
Biography[]
Past[]
Millenia ago, Selemene was married to the nameless archmage the Invoker, having a daughter named Filomena with him. Feeling unsatisfied with her lot in life, Selemene one day left her family and challenged the moon goddess Mene of the Nightsilver Woods. Defeating and killing the goddess, Selemene absorbed her divine spark into herself and usurped control of the Nightsilver woods, after which she exiled Mene's followers the Coedwei, from the Nightsilver Woods as punishment for refusing to worship her over Mene. She would then go on to establish the Dark Moon Order to enforce her rule and created a second moon which by a stroke of luck managed to shield the world from the debris of the original moon connected to Mene after it exploded when it could no longer contain the Radiant and Dire entities imprisoned in it.
When Filomena became stricken with an unknown and seemingly incurable illness, the Invoker brought her to Selemene begging for his former wife to heal their daughter. Selemene agreed to do so, but only if Invoker and Filomena worshipped her. Invoker, in his desperation, declared he loved her as an exclamation of his worship. Filomena, however, refused to worship her egotistical mother, who she refused to acknowledge as a goddess. Her pride wounded, Selemene vindictively left her own child to die in her father's arms without even trying to heal her, ignoring the Invokers tearful pleas for her mercy. Filomena's death, and Selemenes refusal to prevent it, left Invoker grief stricken and vengeful for his former lover, and he would go onto devote many eons throughout many alternate realities to masterminding her downfall as well as a way to bring Filomena back to life.
Book I[]
When Coedwei elf Fymryn steals Selemenes lotuses in the hopes of fulfilling a prophecy that would bring about Mene's return, Selemene has Mirana, who failed to kill the thief, banished from the Nightsilver Woods before sending her disciple Luna to find the Lotus's.
She's seen erasing the memories of one of her followers in her pocket universe. She receives an unexpected visit from the Invoker, who she realized had her lotuses, which were brought to him by a naive Fymryn and used to make his infiltration of her realm possible. At first acting seductive towards her former husband and attempting to convince him to return to her side, she flies into a rage when he tries to get her to say Filomena's name and remind her of how she let her die. He then instills in her the fear of vulnerability with her lotuses in his hands and of a legion rising from the Enclaves to end her reign before leaving. She then has Luna rally the Dark Moon Order, teleporting them throughout the world to attack the Enclaves in an effort to snuff out the secret legion, massacring many innocent elves while having the survivors branded with the sigil of the Dark Moon Order and forcefully converted to her faith. When Luna succeeds in wiping out a secret resistance of elves in Coedwei and captures their leader, she ungratefully scolds her for making them fear her instead of instilling love and worship for the goddess. She leaves Luna while telling her she would one day "earn" Selemenes forgiveness.
The machinations of the Invoker bear fruit when he tricks Mirana into returning the Lotuses to Selemenes shrine in a box of his making, triggering a spell that eclipses the moon. This weakens the Dark Moon Orders power as well as Selemenes, allowing the Coewei to attack and slaughter them with a vengeance. The Invoker also uses this moment of weakness to summon Terrorblade, who emerges from the body of one of Selemenes priests and possess her soldiers in the Nightsilver woods. Selemene responds by killing her own soldiers with a barrage of magic before facing the demon himself. Selemene finds herself outmatched by the demon, who taunts her for how her own daughter refused to worship her and how the Invokers manipulations and her own spite had weakened her follower's faith and love in her, weakening her power in the process. He finally overpowered Selemene and scarred her face before dropping her broken form on the ground, returning to Foul Fell as the eclipse ends.
The last thing Selemene sees is the Invoker, standing over his now powerless and humiliated ex-wife as he uses her own repetitive question to her faithful against her to drive home how complete her defeat is. "Do you love me?"
Book II[]
TBA
Book III[]
TBA
Personality[]
Selemene is a selfish and petty excuse for a deity that demands the unconditional love and worship of her followers. In spite of demanding the love of her subjects, Selemene has very little love for them, subjecting them to horrific mental torture to erase their identity and make them utterly devoted to her. She also exiled Mirana, one of her most faithful and devoted followers, from the Nightsilver Woods as punishment for hesitating to kill Fymryn when the latter stole the lotuses, and is shown to be incredibly manipulative towards Luna, who she has massacre her enemies in the Enclaves only to deride her for not acting like "the real Luna" when she carries out her will. During her fight with Terrorblade, she also didn't hesitate to massacre her own soldiers with her magic in her efforts to kill the demon.
She's also incredibly spiteful towards those who slight her in any way, as shown when she orders genocidal attacks on the Elven enclaves because a single elf stole her lotuses, all the while paranoid about them potentially raising an army against her. In the ancient past she also banished the followers of Mene from the Nightsilve Woods, their original home, because they refused to worship her. When Luna and her soldiers reject her as their goddess following the restoration of her powers, she stripped them of her blessing and furiously left them to fend for themselves. Her spite is also shown to extend to her own family, who she left upon taking Mene's divine spark. When her ex-husband, the Invoker, begged her to save their young daughter Filomena from her disease, she said she would only do so if they worshipped her. When Filomena refused to do so, Selemene callously left the girl to die in her father's arms to die without even attempting to heal her, ignoring the Invokers anguished pleas. Whenever she's reminded of Filomena, she dons an expression of anger at being reminded that her own daughter refused to worship her and shows little to no guilt or remorse for allowing her to die. The only time she acknowledges her daughter in any other way other than vindictiveness is when she realizes that Filomena still loved her even in death, love that she harnesses from the flowers around her grave to restore her powers, after which she makes no reference to her again, further showing how little attachment she has towards Filomena.
Another thing to note about Selemene is her tendency to shift the blame for her heinous actions onto others while denying her own guilt. She blames the Invoker for Filomena's death by claiming that he turned their daughter against her, which couldn't be farther from the truth. When confronted by Fymryn over her banishment of the Coedwei from the Nightsilver Woods, she states that they left of their own free will because they refused to worship her. Even though she sent Luna to suppress the rebellion in Coedwig, all the while encouraging her to "do the things that must be done," she still has the audacity to admonish and scold her when she slaughters the rebels, shaming her for acting like "the Scourge" she was before joining the Darkmoon Order.
In spite of her cruelty towards him, there are hints that she still has feelings for the Invoker, her ex-husband. Her interactions with when he meets her in her domain for the first time in centuries are intimate and loving and offers to come back into his life again if he worships her. Of course, her love only lasts until he reminds her of her role in their daughter's death, at which point she doubles down on her cruelty towards him, further showing how conditional her love is. She was implied to have been a much more loving wife and mother in her mortal life, with her megalomaniacal and narcissistic personality emerging following her apotheosis and her becoming drunk on her godly power, which she stole by killing the rightful goddess, Mene.
If Terrorblade's comments during their battle are anything to go by, Selemene is deeply insecure about being alone, which was her motivation for making herself a god in the first place, which may explain why she demands fanatical love and loyalty from her followers. Ultimately, though, Selemenes heinous actions cost her the love of her followers and her family, and she dies alone anyway, with only her killer, Fymryn, being with her in her final moments following the latter's draining of Selemene's divine spark from her.
Appearance[]
Powers & Abilities[]
Godhood: Selemene is a Goddess of the Moon and possess powerful moon magics for a variety of effects.
- Moon Magic: Having control over the moon and its energies, Selemene imbues her followers' weapons with lunar energy, smites their enemies with moon beams, and shroud the land in shadow. In times of great need, the goddess descends into the world and obscures the sun with a lunar eclipse to aid her champions in battle.
- Magic Circles: She can summon multiple magic circles to use offensivley.
- Energy Projection: Selemene can fire powerful bolts of lunar energy from her hands or directly from the sky.
- Energy Absorption: Selemene can absorb remenants of magical energy, as she did with Filomene's toy.
- Moon Blessing: She is able to bless her followers with similar powers, including animal companions like Sagen, the Lion of the Moon.
- Conjuration: Selemene has been shown conjuring a dagger out of thin air.
- Flight: As a Goddess, Selemene can levitate and fly great distances.
- Immortality: Selemene is immortal as she never ages and is immune to all deadly diseases nor can she be killed by conventional weapons.
- Teleportation: Selemene possesses the power to teleport anywhere she wishes.
- Dimensional Travel: She can transport to her own personal domain.