The Hecate Sisters: Difference between revisions
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[[File:hectatesisters.gif|frame|Waxing, [[Stealth Pun|full]] and waning]]
Sub-trope of the [[
This trope has the unusual distinction of being either [[Older Than Feudalism]], or [[Newer Than They Think]]: Most of what we know about triple-goddess mythology comes from the author and mythologist Robert Graves, who, like many of his early 20th-century contemporaries, tended to add his own ideas wherever he felt they were needed.
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* The Magi computers from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' are built upon these aspects of Ritsuko's mother Naoko Akagi: her as a scientist, a mother, and a woman. {{spoiler|In ''End of Evangelion'', Ritsuko tries to self-destruct NERV to stop Gendo's plan; the Scientist and Mother sides agree, but the Woman side (who was in love with Gendo) refuses, causing a deadlock.}} Rei herself {{spoiler|embodies all three aspects at once and each specific Rei personifies them, Rei I being the Maiden, Rei II is the mostly motherly toward Shinji, and Rei III the Crone harvests all souls back to herself and completes the circle.}}
* ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'' has the three "Fatima Fates", [[Artificial Human]] sisters named after the Greek Fates, though otherwise they don't fit the pattern very well. They're all only a few years apart in age & personality-wise they're probably closer to [[The Three Faces of Eve]]: Atropos is an angry, sad wreck, Lachesis is [[The Ditz]] ([[Let's Get Dangerous|most of the time]]) & Clotho is a nervous [[Moe Moe|moeblob]]. They also have three older sisters named after the Furies, but since those threee were subjected to the same programming (read: brainwashing) as most Fatimas they have [[Flat Character|little personality to speak of]].
* Some have argued that the Theatre of Shadows in ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' represents something like this. It features three apparently omniscient girls who impart their mysterious wisdom mixed with nonsense to the viewers in every episode. Alan Harnum's fanfic [https://web.archive.org/web/20140315213102/http://www.thekeep.org/~harnums/fanfic/utena/index.html Jaquemart] plays with the idea, as the girls try to impress Anthy by claiming to be Fates, Norns and all the aspects of the Triple Goddess. Then Anthy points out that {{spoiler|there's only two of them left.}} They sheepishly back down and admit that the claim was as nonsensical as much of the rest of their ramblings.
* Inverted in the anime of ''[[Trapeze]]'': [[Cloudcuckoolander|Irabu]] is male, and his youngest incarnation is a [[Deadpan Snarker]], with his oldest incarnation being an adolescent manchild.
* The Marui triplets in ''[[Mitsudomoe]]'' slot nicely into the roles. Futaba is the maiden, Mitsuba is the mother, and Hitoha is the crone.
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* In the third [[Tenchi Muyo!]] OVA it is revealed that there are three all-powerful sister goddesses who created the Universe to try and find the unknowable entity that created them. These godesses are revealed to be Lady Tokimi, the [[Man Behind the Man]] of seasons two and three, Tsunami, the personification of the Jurai Royal Tree who {{spoiler|used her powers in order to save Sasami's life, and now the two are merging into one being}}, and finally {{spoiler|Washu, who sealed her own powers and memories into three gems, which she later gave to Ryoko, and became mortal to analyze the mysteries of the universe}}.
* In [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] (the Toei series), one episode revolved about three identical twins trying to steal Yugi's "Violet Hecate" Card. Later, in a duel, the other two Hecate sisters appeared.
* ''Nande koko ni sensei ga!?'' pulled something like this with Kana Kojima, though more in Eric Berne's than Greek way. Kana is a pretty lady who is interested in the male co-protagonist. But then there's the "Demon Kojima" — she tried to "become more assertive" and caught a habit of [[Face of a Thug|badly overdoing angry face]], which terrifies all the students, and even confused her lad for a while despite their obvious mutual attraction. And the girl she used to be, who is brave and curious, but [[Did Not Think This Through|not the one to stop and think what she's about to do]] — it was obvious in the flashback when her reaction at seeing a boy jumping into the river from low bridge was to ''jump after him'', but this side also drags her into half of their later misadventures which make it [[Ecchi]] comedy in the first place.
== Comic Books ==
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* The new rulers of Asgardia in [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]]- Freyja the Crone, Gaea the Mother, and Idunn the Maiden. Together, they're the All-Mother.
== Fan Works ==
* In the ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'' series, "The Three" are ''all'' of these sets of triune goddesses. In a [[Shout-Out]] to Mercedes Lackey's works (see the entry in ''Literature'', below), it turns out there's also a Fourth, but she's [[Fallen Angel|Fallen and "broken"]], unable to take her place with her sisters. {{spoiler|This is corrected in ''Drunkard's Walk V''.}}
== Film ==
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* In the movie ''[[Running With Scissors]]'', The Psychiatrist's wife, and two daughters make up this threesome perfectly. The youngest is dressed as a slut, and blonde. The older, Gywneth Paltrow's character, is quirky and unsentimental (though she does dig up her dead cat, but not for sentimental reasons exactly), and the mother is well, not initially motherly, but eventually motherly.
* In [[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]], we have Jen as the maiden, who is young and beautiful. Shu Lien is the mother, trying to guide Jen to the right path. And Jade Fox as the crone, elderly and certainly bitter.
* [[Dario Argento]]'s Three Mothers Trilogy, which consists of 1977's ''[[Suspiria]]'', 1980's ''[[Inferno (1980 film)|Inferno]]'' and 2007's ''[[Mother of Tears]]'', takes its inspiration from [[Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow|De Quincey's poem]] (see Literature below), with each film featuring one of the titular women as an evil witch. Controlling the world from their bastion-like homes, the three include a crone (Mater Suspirioum/Helena Markos), a middle aged woman (Mater Tenebrarum, though she's technically supposed to be the youngest), and a maiden (Mater Lachrymarum).
* The three [[Drag Queen]]s from ''[[To Wong Fu]]'' have this dynamic. First there's Vida Boheme who's the [[Team Mom]], then we have [[Alpha Bitch|bitchy]] Noxeema Jackson for that and last but not the least there's Chi-Chi Rodriguez who's the Drag Princess rather than full grown Queen.
* The 1998 ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin]]'' series, though it isn't really seen in detail except in the novelizations, where it is explicitly stated that Queen Mab was once a triple goddess who consisted of Maiden (Titania), Mother (Melusine), and Warrior (Mab-Morrigan). Merlin unwittingly tries to contact her Maiden aspect in his adolescence after seeing a statue of her in a pond, and only gets through to Nimue (before meeting her).
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* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' had one of these for the Winter and Summer Courts of fairies—Each court is ruled by three Queens—Queen Mother (The Queen Who Was), Queen (The Queen Who Is), and Lady (The Queen Who Is To Come) who are also grandmother, mother, and daughter.
* Mercedes Lackey's ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series features a ''four''fold goddess, who adds the Warrior to the standard trio of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The three sister goddesses Agnetha, Agnira, and Agnoma, as mentioned in ''By the Sword,'' may also fit the trope with Agnira as Maiden and Agnetha as Mother, but it's never really made clear whether or not Agnoma fills the Crone slot to complete the trope.
** Interestingly, to complement the fourfold Goddess there is a Fourfold ''male'' deity, with faces matching that of the Goddess: the Rover, to match the Maiden, for East; the Guardian to match the
* In Gregory Maguire's novel ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]'', the birth of Elphaba (who will become [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|the Wicked Witch of the West]]) is attended by a maiden, a mother, and a crone. To add to the "Fates" theme (remember, Elphaba is [[Doomed by Canon]]), she's born inside a puppet theater.
* The witch families in Anne Bishop's ''Tir Alainn'' trilogy appear as this. Usually a grandmother, mother and daughter living together. None ever seem to be able to keep the men around. Well, at least not at the start of the story anyway.
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== Theater ==
* Of course, [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]'' features three witches referred to as the Weird (or Wyrd, or Wayward) Sisters, a name given to the Norns (the Norse version of the Fates) and who worship Hecate. Usually, however, they are all represented as crones.
** Roman Polanski's film adaptation there was a maiden witch. That version also gave the witches an extended role, in the form of a [[Twist Ending]] where {{spoiler|Donalbain is seen to visit them, implying that he will go down the same path as Macbeth.}}
** In the 2006 [[Setting Update|present-day version]], the three witches are played by teenage girls.
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* The three women in the cast of ''[[Fools]]''. Sophia the Maiden, Lenya the mother and Yenchna the crone.
* As an exploration of themes regarding femininity, it is fitting that the women of ''[[On the Verge]]'' form this trinity: Alex (Maiden), Fanny (Mother), and Mary (Crone).
== Video Games ==
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** You can still tell them apart, however, by hair color (blonde, black, white).
** This is an interesting example as it is made clear that [[Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder|different people see them differently]]. The little girls are seen by the Manhattan clan, the old crones are seen by Macbeth, and the old gargoyle hags are seen by Demona. Meanwhile the 20-somethings are their preferred form, seen by the audience and other Children of Oberon as well as any characters not implied to see them differently (although humans will see them in period/job appropriate attire). [[Word of God]] has stated that only the Third Race and the audience ever see them for what they truly are.
* The Fates appear in Disney's ''[[Hercules (1997 film)
{{quote|'''Phil:''' I'm tellin' ya, they're double dipping!}}
* Although they are all roughly the same age, [[Fan Nickname|Ozai's Angels]] in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fit this to a T. [[Perky Female Minion|Ty Lee]] is the maiden, innocent, optimistic and bubbly. [[Magnificent Bitch|Azula]] is the mother - the more [[My Beloved Smother|controlling]] and manipulative aspects of the mother archetype, since she's clearly the leader; not so much the gentle, caring aspects. [[Emotionless Girl|Mai]] is the crone, the eldest, the most apathetic and cynical, the least emotional, and a real [[Deadpan Snarker]].
* In the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'', the witch Hydia and her daughters
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Sibling Tropes]]
[[Category:Always Female]]
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[[Category:Art Subjects]]
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