Pantheon: Greek
Class: Demi-god
Level: Top Tier
Lineage: Human/Divine
Alignment: Good
Linked to: Hades, Eurydice, Persephone
The son of the Muse Kalliope and Apollo, Orpheus inherited from his mother the power to enchant every living thing with the sweetness of his music, which he played on the lyre, and with his beautiful, melodic voice, as he sang. His music won the heart of the nymph Eurydice, but tragically she died, bitten by a snake as she tried to avoid the satyr Aristaeos. Unwilling to go on living without her, Orpheus descended to the very kingdom of death, the Underworld ruled by Hades and Persephone, there to beg the return of his loved one.
The power of his music gained Orpheus safe passage through the Underworld, charming and enthralling everything as he made his way towards the court of Hades. Reaching his goal at last, the bard played and sang for Hades and Persephone, and implored them to release Eurydice. Their hearts finally softened by the unearthly music (especially Persephone, to whom the music brought bittersweet memories of the world she called home, the world above from which she had been abducted), the monarchs of the realm of the dead relented, and Hades granted that Eurydice be allowed return to the world above.
But there was one condition that the pale king laid down:all through the journey upwards to the living world, Orpheus must never once look back to see if the nymph was following. If he so much as turned once to check, she would be dragged back down to Hades, there to remain forever. Orpheus began the long climb to the world of light above, but the further he went, the more the silence at his back whispered to him that his loved one was not following, and eventually, just as they reached the entrance to the upper world, Orpheus' frustration and fear got the better of him, and he turned. On the instant, Eurydice was pulled back down into Hades, lost forever to Orpheus.
The bard dazedly returned to the world he had left, his life shattered. For seven months he sat, disconsolate by the banks of the river Strymon, his heart breaking, refusing food or drink. He broke his lyre, and would sing no more, for he had nothing to sing for now. Eventually, he retired to the higher slopes of Mount Rhodope and Haemos, but there he was discovered by a band of Maenads, who tore him limb from limb.
The Muses gathered up his limbs and conveyed them to Mount Olympus, where they buried them. His head and lyre floated down the Hebros, where they arrived at the island of Lesbos, later famed for its musicians. There the head of Orpheus was buried, and it was said that nightingales sang sweeter there than anywhere in Greece.