Nyx in the House of Night

of Night world-building are influenced by other cultures and religions—in particular Pagan and Wiccan, along with Native American. It’s a fascinating mix, especially when Christianity (specifically, Catholicism) is added in the form of the Benedictine nuns led by Sister Mary Angela. In the series Nyx is present in many forms throughout the world—as the Goddess says herself when she tells Zoey: “I am known by many names . . . But you . . . may call me by the name by which your world knows me today, Nyx” ( Marked ). The Greek roots of Nyx are rightly acknowledged, however, when she explains: “In truth, it was the ancient Greeks touched by the Change who first worshipped me as the mother they searched for within their endless Night.”
    Just as the ancient Greeks worshipped Nyx as a “mother,” she is often presented as a mother figure in the series. Some ancient sources also refer to her as “Mother Night” and “kindly Night.” There is something profoundly maternal about her during her scenes with Zoey; we see in Marked her early appearance as a beautiful Native American woman who makes Zoey feel loved and cared for, though perhaps Zoey sees Nyx in this way because she is on her way to see her Cherokee Grandma when she collapses and has that very first vision. (I think that Nyx is able to change her form according to who she happens to be dealing with; or perhaps, more correctly, her appearance changes only in the perception of the mortals blessed enough to lay eyes on her. The Goddess is a chameleon, of sorts, which seems somehow fitting for the personification of night’s swift-changing landscape.)
    We are also shown a glimpse of a somewhat less compassionate Goddess later on during the ancient scenes where we witness, alongside Zoey, Nyx deal harshly with Kalona. It is certainly true that all deities can be as terrible as they can be kindly; in Homer’s Iliad , it is revealed that Zeus himself is afraid of angering Nyx. Perhaps it is fair to say that Nyx—whether the night goddess presented in mythology or the version we see in the House of Night books—is, in some ways, no different from the mothers many of us know and love. There’s no rule that says being a mother automatically makes you soft and nurturing or, in more general terms, “good.” Most people simply do the best they can in a very difficult role: motherhood is one of the toughest jobs out there! Add in the responsibilities of a goddess, and it’s no wonder Nyx doesn’t always seem as “nice” as we might like her to be. Take, for example, her treatment of Aphrodite, which could definitely be interpreted as a form of “tough love.” It might not have been nice, but it did seem effective, and Aphrodite was better off for it.
    As one of the great maternal forces in the world of mythology, Nyx had many children. The Children of Nyx—also the name sometimes given to fledglings and vampyres at the House of Night—are well documented in any number of common sources. Putting together the information noted by Hesiod, Homer, and others, Nyx seems to have had as many as twenty. Not all of them are as innocuous as Day, however. Love, Friendship, and Gaiety are among her offspring, but so are Misery, Retribution, and Deceit. It’s a fascinating contrast, and one that is thoroughly explored throughout the House of Night series. I don’t mean literally, as we don’t meet these “actual” children of the mythological Nyx. But certainly through the trials that Zoey and her friends have to face we see plenty of love and friendship, retribution and deceit. And when in Marked Nyx speaks to Zoey of the uncertain morals of the world she is about to enter, I can’t help but think of the paradoxical nature of the children Nyx has brought forth. Just as one goddess can give birth to both Misery and Love, so each of the characters carry these same potential polarities within them.
    Nyx is described by philosophers and poets (e.g., by Aeschylus) as wearing a dark robe covered in stars—a robe that I imagine would look much like the beautiful black dress covered in metallic silver stars that Erik Night gives Zoey for her first ritual as leader of the Dark Daughters in Betrayed . In ancient Greek art, Nyx is often depicted as travelling across the sky in a horse-drawn carriage, which could explain Zoey’s and the House of Night’s connection to horses.
    In Greek mythology, the goddess Nyx is quite naturally allied with images of the