Pasiphae

Pasiphae
Queen of Atlantis Leader of the Colchean Army
Gender:	Female
Family:	Minos (former husband) † Aeson (former husband) Heptarian (nephew) † Medea (niece) Ariadne (step-daughter) Therus (step-son) Circe (sister) † Jason (son)
Species:	Human
Aliases:	Queen Witch
Status:	Alive (resurrected)
Appearances:	The Earth Bull A Boy of No Consequence Twist of Fate White Lies The Rules of Engagement Hunger Pangs Touched by the Gods Part 1 Touched by the Gods Part 2 A New Dawn Part 1 A New Dawn Part 2 The Marriage of True Minds The Day of the Dead The Grey Sisters A Fate Worse Than Death The Madness of Hercules The Gorgon's Gaze The Dying of the Light Kin The Queen Must Die
Portrayed by:	Sarah Parish

“As Queen you cannot always follow your heart.”

~ Pasiphae

Pasiphae (Greek: Πασιφάη Pasipháē) is the Queen of the city of Atlantis and in her first reign ruled alongside her, now deceased, husband, King Minos. She is the stepmother to the kings daughter, Ariadne. Secretly she is manipulating events and conspiring to have Jason killed to further her own goals. She also secretly practices witchcraft and has used it to further her own plans. Pasiphae has an unquenchable thirst for power and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.

Pasiphae has ruled Atlantis three times, however only her first reign was official.

When Pasiphae is at Jason's mercy she reveals that she is his mother.

Biography

Early Life

Ten years before the events of the series, as the King's son Therus was coming of age, he learned of a plot by Pasiphae to kill him, so he was not in her way for the throne. Upon learning this, Pasiphae framed Therus as a traitor and forced several people to claim this was true or she would murder their families. Therus fled and Pasiphae was led to believe by The Oracle that he had died. (White Lies)

At some point in the past, she destroyed her sister Circe's life, took her home and husband from her and forced her to live in exile in a cave. Circe claimed she did all this out of hatred. (The Song of the Sirens)

Fight Against Jason

During the choosing of stones event, she was annoyed by the fact that her step daughter, Ariadne, disliked that tributes were sent to their deaths. (The Earth Bull)

Pasiphae and Heptarian conspiring in the Atlantis amphitheatre.

She conspired with her nephew Heptarian and leader of the Bull Court, Palos to try and make sure Jason died in order that Ariadne would forget him and be more willing to marry Heptarian, to whom she was promised in marriage. By means of witchcraft, she used a lock of hair to curse Jason while he was bull-leaping in the Atlantis amphitheatre. However, she was interrupted by Medusa who distracted her by setting a small a fire in the doorway of her secret chamber and upon returning angered to find the doll she bound the hair missing. When confronting her step-daughter after the event, she warned her that her father, King Minos would not approve of her affections for Jason. (A Boy of No Consequence)

During the visit of King Laius of Thebes she worked with the King and Tiresias to hide away the King's son because of its destiny. She also continued to feud with her daughter Ariadne, who was keen to note that she was working very hard to make everyone happy. (Twist of Fate)

Pasiphae tortures Stolos using witchcraft.

Following a messenger from Therus arriving to give his message to Ariadne, being caught. Pasiphae realised that something was wrong, by the fact his claimed story of being a thief was illogical and that Adriadne seemed more concerned for his safety than her own. Pasiphae tried to bribe the messager, but when he refused she had him tortured. When he did not spill, she took over personally, taking his blood and holding it over a flame, she used magic to torture the infomation out of him, thus learning Therus was alive, she then murdered the messager with her dagger. Matching into the temple, she confronted the Oracle and demanded to know what else the Oracle had told her that was not true. The Oracle replied that her quest for power would lead only to bloodshed. Then she warned the Oracle that she was not untouchable and if she lied to her again she would personally take control of her desity.

Going to Heptarian, she told him to take a squadron of soldiers and kill Therus, pointing out Ariadne would never be interested if he learned the truth. She later talked to Ariadne and reaffirmed the belief that Therus was a traitor. She was angered when Heptarian returned in failure, but realised that Ariadne would go to her brother and ordered him to follow her. Once this plan failed, getting desperate she ordered the city to be sealed to stop her escaping. Talking to Minos, she once again told him Thesus was a traitor, when Minos brought up how he had already lost one child. Upon Ariadne returning, Pasiphae confronted her, Ariadne revealed she new the truth, but Pasiphae could nothing because Minos then saw her. (White Lies)

She continued to promote herself in royal matters, especially when it came to her daughter's marriage to Heptarian. She became particularly wary when Jason decided to take part in the Pankration, prompting the fact that Jason was trying to impress Ariadne and hopefully win her heart.

Simultaneously, Pasiphae asked Dymas to concoct a poison, which she could then use on her husband. Over time, it would slowly kill him until he died a peaceful death - this would ensure her strength in the royal family. To complete her plans, she murdered Korinna in order to snap the communication between both Jason and Ariadne. (The Rules of Engagement)

The poison quickly affected Minos and she watched over him on his deathbed. Faking her consideration, she continued to dope him with the supplement. (Hunger Pangs)

It is later shown that Pasiphae is in fact Jason's real mother, fuelling her fear that she would be overpowered, but forced with the fact that she would not be able to kill her own son. She was told this truth by Jason's father who had taken to the abandoned silver mines after being shunned by the outside world. However, Jason is unaware of who is real parents are. Pasiphae is dethroned after Minos discovers her true colours. (Touched by the Gods)

In Exile

Pasiphae managed to regroup over a year, and gained the Colcheans as allies to fight in her war against Queen Ariadne. By first taking Thera, she attempted to take the City of Atlantis by force, but first by calling on her associate, Medea to steal the Palladium from within the city's palace and then sending the army against its walls. She watched from afar as the war raged on.

When Lord Sarpedon returned to the Colchean camp, she believed Ariadne had finally decided to surrender. In actual fact, Sarpedon had intended to betray her by killing her with a dagger. Pasiphae was saved from harm by Medea who threw Lord Sarpedon across the tent using magic. Pasiphae slit the lord's throat for his deception.

She later ordered the Colchean army to attack the city again, with Goran leading ahead. However, the deserters from the city returned to protect Atlantis once again and ambushed the Colcheans, forcing Pasiphae and her army to retreat. (A New Dawn)

Powers and Abilities

• Magic: Pasiphae is very gifted in magic ( being a devoted Hecate's follower and blessed by the Gods). She has shown a vast arsenal of different magic spells and was seen performing a powerful spell even in a weakened state.
• Spell Casting: The act of changing and controlling events by magical influence, an example of this was when she tortured Jason with a cursed doll that had a strand of his hair.
• Geokinesis: She was seen taking down stones through a mountain to block Jason from coming out using a spell.
• Necromancy: She raised many dead warriors from their tombs using a spell and a few symbols .
• Telekinesis: She tossed one of her soldiers against a wall and killed another, choking him to death using telekinesis.
• Potion Making: The act of brewing and concocting supernatural elixirs and potions that contain mystical properties.
• God's Touch: It is stated in Touched by the Gods Part 2 that Pasiphae is touched (assumed blessed) by the gods, as her son, Jason(explaining their common immunity to Medusa's gaze).
• Endurance: Like her son, Pasiphae's displayed incredible levels of endurance. Able to survive and recover from taking arrow straight to the chest and finding the strenght necessary to cast a necromancy spell few moments after she woke up (it did knock her out for a while and she was reduced to crawling when she first woke up). (The Day of the Dead)

Personality and Traits

Pasiphae's personality seems to be rather devious in the way that she can lash out violently when it is least expected. She is astute, cerebral, ruthless, remorseless, cruel, analytical, malevolent, incredibly enigmatic and tremendously cunning. She is also very manipulative of all those around her and asserts her power willingly. Her ability to manipulate raises the question of how much control of Atlantis does King Minos actually have or is he just a figurehead in her interprises.

A true megalomaniac, Pasiphae is obsessed with obtaining absolute power for herself. She views people wiht an incredible lack of morals and doesn't even view them as intelligent beings. She is extremely calm, even in the face of being threatened or denied something that she wants. Pasiphae is also misanthropic and sees nobody as her equal, going so far as murdering Ariadne's best friend after the latter defied her.

She is also cold-blooded, calculating and highly intelligent. She is constantly planning to further her own goals and has no issues with killing anyone who gets in her way. Pasiphae also has something of a quick temper. This is shown when she slaps Ariadne in the first episode. (The Earth Bull) She continues to quarrel with Ariadne, especially when it comes to Heptarian whom she wants Ariadne to marry. (A Boy of No Consequence) She even questions their quarrelling later. (Twist of Fate) She murders Korinna, subsequently giving Ariadne the impression that she is not to be tangled with. (The Rules of Engagement)

Pasiphae is highly sadistic, narcissistic, possessing an air of callousness. She is not afraid to combat younger, more skilful opponents and is shown to be vengeful. She is Machiavellian. Pasiphae is elegant; a cunning psychopath with little regard for human life. Despite the odds tetering to and from her favour, she remains powerful, violent, bitter, egomaniacal, subtle, intellectually brilliant, arrogant, cowardly, independent, cruel and intelligent. She has an unusually analytical personality and can be a heartless wretch towards other people.

Pasiphae is capable of violent mood swings: Calm, cynical and calculating one moment, vicious and aggressive the next.

Her skills are manifested when she performs witchcraft in front of Medusa which shows her determination to see Jason fail. She is angered when her tools are removed from her hidden chamber. (A Boy of No Consequence) She continues her malificent ways by conspiring with King Laius to kill his son. (Twist of Fate) Her intelligence is exemplified by the fact she knows what Ariadne is up to when a messenger arrives in Atlantis resulting in Ariadne defying her stepmother. (White Lies)

However she does display certain measures of love towards Jason. This is first shown in Touched by the Gods Part 2, when she spares his life. It is shown again in A New Dawn Part 1 when she feared for his life in the city, knowing he would be fighting. It happened again in A New Dawn Part 2 when she saved him from being shot by an archer.

Trivia

• As her sister is a Witch of Caucus, its possible she is or was one once. This is supported by the fact that she practices witchcraft. (The Song of the Sirens)

Greek Mythology

Pasiphae was the daughter of Perse, one of the Oceanids and of Helios, the Titan of the Sun. This makes her the sister of Circe, Aëetes and Perses. All four of them wielded powerful magic and ruled a kingdom. Like her sister Circe she was said to be an immortal sorceress and had a fondness for potions and magical herbs which she used to keep her husband Minos from cheating on her. In Greek mythology, Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur after a curse placed upon her by Poseidon (or by Aphrodite as requested by Poseidon) made her mate with a white bull.

External links

• Pasiphae's profile on the BBC Atlantis website