Wonder Woman - Sword + Shield

More for the Wonder Woman project. In addition to the redesign of her body and costume, I also decided to do some drawings showcasing her in action with the weapons I gave her. These were supposed to also be in color, but I ran out of time I kinda like how they look in black and white....still, I hope to get them colored eventually.

This showcases Wonder Woman's sword and shield.

The shield represents Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. I thought this was appropriate since Wonder Woman comes from her world into ours not only to help us, but in a way, to save the Earth itself from all the destruction humanity is causing. If I ever got to write the comic, I would work that angle. She was also literally created from earth, as her mother shaped her from clay, so it makes sense to me that something related to an earth Goddess would protect her. The symbol on the shield, and on her belt/girdle, is a golden eagle. This actually has nothing to do with Demeter, but everything to do with Wonder Woman herself - the eagle is a huge part of her symbolism, so I decided to keep it, choosing the golden eagle specifically because it would have existed in the area of Europe etc. that the Amazons originally came from in the story.

The sword represents Hera, Goddess of Marriage (and sometimes of Women). I was kinda torn on this one, both who the sword should go to and whether or not to include Hera, I mean. The Amazons are "virgin" in the sense that they are not tied to any man or group of men, and Hera is literally defined by her relationship to Zeus. However, her roots go deeper than that, and she is a powerful Goddess in her own right. If all the other main Greek Goddesses had a hand in creating Wonder Woman, it didn't seem fair to leave her out (and as a Pagan myself, I understand what it is to worry about invoking her wrath ). Also, one of my favorite books is "We Goddesses" by Doris Orgel, illustrated by Marilee Heyer, which documents the stories of Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite in their own voices. Hera is a much stronger character in that book than she is usually portrayed as. A point is made in that book that she fought in the war against the Titans when Zeus finally defeated his father Chronos, so she must know how to use a sword. I think she also fought in the Trojan War, though I'm not exactly sure about that, as I've never read the whole "Illiad." She is far more badass than people make her out to be. So Wonder Woman's sword stands for her. I also think its interesting to pair something used for fighting and battle with marriage, though I don't mean to say marriage is a bad thing. A lot of people seem to think that happily married or long-term couples don't fight, and that's wrong. Fighting is a necessary part of any long-term relationship, so maybe that part of this combination does work after all.

This is the last drawing in the series, and my favorite. The sword is a falcata, so I took the pose from a collection of drawings of people using falcatas as depicted on vases and such from Ancient Greece. I think its a little confusing as to whether she's facing forward or backward, but that'll be clearer once I get it colored. Its definitely still my favorite.

Oh, and at this point you might have noticed there is no weapon of Aphrodite. There's a reason for that. In attacking and taking the Amazons captive, Heracles was trying to get the girdle belonging to Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother. The girdle represents sexuality, so in my version, it continues to represent Aphrodite. Whilst escaping from Heracles and Theseus, Hippolyta regained her girdle and keeps it on herself as a symbol of her status. Thus, even though Aphrodite had a hand in creating Wonder Woman, the Amazon Princess does not have a symbol of her as a weapon.

...and wow, that was verbose of me. Thanks for reading, if you actually got through it all

More of the project: