Fields of Elysium
Where the gods post their brunch photos and the afterlife feels like a designer apartment.
The Fields of Elysium is the divine afterlife paradise that serves as the primary setting of Rachel Smythe's webcomic *Lore Olympus*. Reimagined as a lush, modern metropolis where the Olympian gods live glamorous, socially-competitive lives, it is the spiritual and physical home of Zeus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, and the rest of the pantheon. Think a sun-drenched, green-carpeted skyline of sleek towers, manicured gardens, and celebrity culture—ancient Greek heaven filtered through a contemporary lens.
It is here that Persephone is sent by her mother Demeter, and here that the central romance between her and Hades (who rules the separate, darker Underworld) unfolds. The Fields functions as both a workplace and a social stage, where divine politics, gossip, and power dynamics play out against a backdrop of manicured lawns and designer apartments.
- Type
- Divine afterlife paradise / home realm of the Olympian gods
- Primary inhabitant class
- Olympian deities and blessed dead
- Ruler
- Zeus (as king of the gods)
- Aesthetic
- Modern luxury cityscape with lush greenery and classical motifs
- Role in story
- Primary setting; site of Persephone's reassignment and most of the pantheon's social drama
- Contrast realm
- The Underworld (Hades' domain), a separate darker plane
Lore & Background
In classical mythology, the Elysian Fields were the blessed afterlife reserved for heroes and the virtuous dead, a paradise of eternal spring under the care of the gods. *Lore Olympus* retains that core idea—a realm of beauty, abundance, and divine privilege—while stripping away the pastoral simplicity and replacing it with a hyper-modern, almost corporate glamour. The Fields in the comic is a city: it has apartments, offices, social events, and a visible hierarchy in which Zeus sits at the apex and the other Olympians jockey for status, approval, and attention.
The social dynamics of the Fields are a constant source of tension. The gods gossip, compete, and perform for one another. Persephone, upon arriving as a kind of reassignment from her mother's domain, is treated with a mix of pity and curiosity by a pantheon that has long regarded her as a minor, overlooked daughter. The Fields is not a neutral stage; it is a social ecosystem with its own politics, its own expectations of behavior, and its own ways of marginalizing those who do not fit the glamorous norm.
The realm also serves as a narrative pressure cooker. Because the gods are bound by divine law, social expectation, and the watchful eye of Zeus, the characters must navigate their desires and relationships within a system that rewards conformity and punishes deviation. Hades, as ruler of the Underworld, exists in a parallel but separate plane, and the tension between the bright, social Fields and his dark, solitary domain mirrors the central emotional conflict of the story.
In Their Own Story
The morning light hits the terraced gardens of the Fields in long, golden slants, and the air smells of jasmine and freshly cut marble. Persephone steps off the transit platform in a simple green dress, her sandals clicking against the polished walkway. Around her, the gods are already in motion—Ares stretching in a tailored suit, Aphrodite adjusting her hair in a reflective pillar, a cluster of minor deities whispering near a fountain that sprays water in a perfect helix. She can feel their eyes. She has always felt them. Somewhere below, beyond the green canopy and the manicured hedges, the Underworld waits in its quiet dark, and a certain king of the dead is already looking up, already waiting. The Fields hums with its usual cheerful indifference, and Persephone walks forward into it, one step at a time, into the bright and the loud and the very, very watched.
Reader's Guide
The Fields of Elysium in *Lore Olympus* looks like a cross between a Mediterranean resort city and a tech-hub skyline. Towers of white and pale gold rise among dense, sculpted greenery; fountains, boulevards, and open-air plazas dominate the streetscape. The architecture blends clean modern lines with classical columns, pediments, and sculptural ornament, giving the whole place a 'designer ancient Greece' feel.
The inhabitants are the Olympian gods and, by extension, the blessed dead who enjoy the afterlife. Zeus presides from a position of clear authority, while the other deities occupy roles—Ares as the warrior, Athena as the strategist, Aphrodite as the social queen. The social code is performative: gods attend gatherings, exchange pleasantries, and maintain a carefully curated public image. Gossip and hierarchy are constant undercurrents.
Technology is present but stylized. The gods use smartphones, social-media-style feeds, and digital communication as part of their daily lives, blending the mythic with the contemporary. This modern layer is what distinguishes the Fields from a traditional mythological paradise—it is a *society* with apps, notifications, and the same petty social dynamics any modern community would have.
Most story arcs take place here or are driven by its social pressures. Persephone's arrival, her navigation of divine politics, and the pantheon's reactions to her relationship with Hades all unfold against the Fields' bright, watchful backdrop. The realm is less a backdrop than a character: it enforces norms, amplifies conflict, and makes the gods' choices feel both mythic and painfully relatable.
Did You Know?
- The Fields of Elysium is the primary setting for the vast majority of the *Lore Olympus* story, functioning as the gods' home, workplace, and social stage all at once.
- Persephone's arrival in the Fields is framed as a reassignment by her mother Demeter, making her an outsider in a community that has long overlooked her.
- The comic deliberately contrasts the bright, green, social Fields with Hades' Underworld—a darker, more solitary realm—using the visual and tonal gap between the two to mirror the emotional distance in their relationship
- The gods in the Fields use modern technology like smartphones and social-media-style feeds, grounding the mythic setting in a recognizable contemporary social dynamic.
More in World & Setting
Elsewhere in the Lore Olympus universe
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