Nyx in the House of Night

us to see the true power of Nyx as presented in the Casts’ world: the Goddess’ consort is relegated to the sidelines. No matter how many mentions or minor appearances there might be of other gods and goddesses, the House of Night series seems to have only one major deity.
    Of course, Greek mythology is not the only place we should look for material that might inform our understanding of a figure as mysterious and complex as Nyx. As the Goddess says herself, in Marked : “I am known by many names . . . Changing Woman, Gaea, A’akuluujjusi, Kuan Yin, Grandmother Spider, and even Dawn.” Although many of these goddesses are more accurately described as earth goddesses—Gaea being the most obvious and perhaps most well-known example—there is a genuine link between the nature of such deities and Nyx herself. Changing Woman is the Navajo goddess of the changing seasons, and some stories even say she created earth and sky (whereas others say she was the child of earth and sky). She is a benevolent figure and one deeply invested in the health and happiness of her people—just as Nyx herself is in the House of Night books.
    Kuan-Yin (or Guanyin) is a primarily East Asian Buddhist deity, sometimes known as the goddess of mercy and compassion and called simply “Kannon” in Japan. What is especially interesting about her is that some scholars believe she is associated with the Virgin Mary—an idea that comes up in the House of Night series when Sister Mary Angela voices her belief that Mary and Nyx are different faces of the same deity. In seventeenth-century Japan, Christianity was banned and it became necessary for believers to follow their faith in secret. Some groups managed to continue their worship of the Virgin Mary by using statues disguised as the goddess Kannon. In Tempted , Damien even mentions this practice in reference to the spread of Christianity throughout Europe:
You should remember that in your Fledgling Handbook 101 , Mary is illustrated as one of the many faces of Nyx . . . It is well documented that during the influx of Christianity into Europe, shrines to Gaea, as well as Nyx, were converted to shrines for Mary long before people converted to the new [religion].
    Grandmother Spider, also mentioned by Nyx in the first House of Night novel, created the world in many Native American legends. In some references she seems more like an earth goddess, but in others she is seen as the creator of the stars in the sky. Her web is the sky itself, and drops of dew caught on each silken strand are the stars.
    There are many other instances of night goddesses in world mythology that Nyx does not mention, like Hine-Nui-te-po, the M a ori goddess of night, whose name is usually translated as “Great Lady of the Night.” Some online sources refer to her as the goddess of death and ruler of the underworld, as well. She also gave the sunset its red color. It was this final point that made me realize how good a representation of Nyx she would be for the red fledglings led by Stevie Rae—especially with their ability to survive death and their desire to live underground. Even if the Casts didn’t consciously borrow from M a ori mythology, there is still a sense of rightness to those red fledglings as a new “breed” of vampyre among Nyx’s people.
    In Norse mythology, Night is personified by the goddess Nótt. Stories of this night goddess can apparently be found in the famous Prose Edda , one of the primary sources of Norse mythology. It is widely believed to have been written in the thirteenth century by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland and was probably the first time that the history of the various gods and goddesses were given order and written in a coherent form. In it, Nótt gives birth to the personification of Earth, a connection that echoes throughout the House of Night books: all five elements are important to Nyx, but Earth seems to have a special place for her. Again, my mind focuses on Stevie Rae and her affinity for Earth. After all, why would Nyx give the leader of this new breed of vampyres such a strong connection to Earth if it weren’t important to her? Mythologically, the Casts associate Nyx with earth goddesses such as Gaea and Changing Woman, not just other goddesses of the night.
    Egyptian mythology has a goddess of the sky, Nut. Her name (sometimes spelled Nuit ) literally translates as “Night,” and she is one of the most ancient of all the Egyptian goddesses. It is generally