Atropos (died 2020) was the sister of Clotho and Lachesis, the three of them being the Ancient Greek Fates. Atropos was the terminator of destiny who cut the threads of the Loom of Fate to end people's lives. This also gave her the power to reanimate the dead, with which she caused the England Zombie Apocalypse. She was ultimately killed by the Legends using her to destroy the Loom of Fate.
Biography
Deciding fate
In ancient times, the Greek Fates, comprised of Clotho and her sisters, used to weave the threads of the Loom of Fate. Atropos was in charge of ending people’s fate, and according to Clotho, she terminated every life with pleasure. Eventually, Clotho destroyed the Loom of Fate and scattered its pieces all across the multiverse, wanting mortals to take grasp of their own desired destinies. This drastically diminished her sisters' powers, giving way for Clotho's escape.[1]
Return
After the Crisis and the amalgamation of universes from the original multiverse into what is now known as Earth-Prime, the pieces of the Loom all exist on the same plane, restoring Atropos' powers. She started whispering in Clotho's head, interfering with her shape-shifting and threatening to kill her and her loved ones.[1]
Searching for the Loom of Fate
Atropos attacked a punk rock concert where The Smell was performing, knowing Clotho (now going by Charlie) was their singer. Atropos massacred all but one of the people at the venue, and after being told by the last surviving member of The Smell that Charlie quit two days prior, Atropos revealed her true form and killed him.
Sisters talking
In Hell, Atropos informed Lachesis of what she learned. Lachesis revealed that she heard of Charlie from Astra Logue; having joined the time-traveling team known as the Legends, Charlie was now a companion of John Constantine. Lachesis revealed she owned Constantine’s soul and could, therefore, track him and Charlie for Atropos to hunt down.
Atropos went to 2020 British Columbia tracking John, who was tracking the second piece of the Loom. Upon arriving she destroyed the Legends’ Jump ship and massacred the crew filming the show Supernatural in the area. Afterwards, she telepathically assaulted Charlie, whispering to her and persuading her to abandon her friends.
Charlie found Atropos, who berated her for her betrayal, only for Constantine and Sara Lance to arrive and attack. Atropos battled Sara until Constantine convinced Sara to take Charlie and go find the Loom while he holds off Atropos with a series of spells. Atropos manages to overcome him and stab him twice, not realizing he’d foreseen this and one of the spells saved his life.
Leaving him for dead, Atropos used her shapeshifting powers to masquerade as John and catch up to Sara and Charlie. Atropos discreetly reanimated the ravaged Supernatural crew as zombies when Charlie managed to find the second piece of the Loom. However, Sara and Charlie fought off the undead and retrieved the Loom fragment. Atropos revealed her true form to kill Sara and then stabbed Charlie to make her let go of the Loom fragment, after which Atropos berated her sister for bleeding like a mortal.
Using the Loom fragment to track another, Atropos boarded the Waverider. Upon encountering Behrad Tarazi, Atropos coerced him into handing her the other Loom fragment by threatening to harm his unconscious sister Zari. Afterwards, Behrad took up a sword and attacked Atropos from behind, but she deflected the blow and immobilized him. Sensing he had been fated to die before the Legends changed the timeline, Atropos fulfilled his former destiny, killing him by pulling out his life force in the form of a thread and cutting it as she had previously done to all of humanity.
Wearing both of fragments like rings on her fingers, Atropos made her way to the cargo bay while the ship took off into the temporal zone. Sara ambushed Atropos, who was surprised to see that she had somehow survived. After a rematch during which Sara found out Atropos was immune to the Hellfire sword, Sara ordered Gideon to open the doors, causing the pressure to suck Atropos out. However, she managed to grab Sara by the ankle, only for Charlie to arrive, pick up the sword, and strike her hand. Atropos’ hand, with the pieces of the Loom, was chopped off and she was sent flying into the temporal zone.[2]
Apocalypse creator
Atropos' hand turns skeletal
With Lachesis and Astra Logue, Atropos commandeered the Waverider. She saw no need for Astra and proposed to kill her, but Astra had temporary immortality, so for that moment, it was impossible. While the two other women talked, Atropos donned her ring of the Loom of Fate and made a spell, focusing on the island of Great Britain, where her hand turned skeletal; Atropos had created the English Zombie Apocalypse to occupy the Legends.
Atropos discovered that the Loom was missing soon after she cast her spell; Astra revealed that the culprit was Gary Green. He was quickly captured and Astra was assigned to torture him for the location of the Loom before she killed him. Eventually, Astra disobeyed orders; Atropos, realizing that a day had passed, killed both Astra and Gary. She then stood with her sisters as Clotho, holding the Loom, suddenly appeared, pledging her loyalty.[3]
Loomworld
The Fates turned Earth-Prime into "Loomworld"; free will was a punishable offense and everyone ate mush as they praised the Fates. Atropos made a deal with Clotho where the Legends could live but they had to be separated and characters in various television shows.
Atropos would tell workers in the factory that revised history by eliminating passages that showed free will in people when their time was over. One day Atropos appeared on the big screen as Mona Wu was talking to her supervisor. The Fate told the man that his time with the factory had come to an end; he died where he stood.[4]
Death
- "If my power comes from you, then maybe I can do this..."
- —Sara pulling Atropos' thread[src]
Fates assembled.
As the Fates assembled to be worshiped by the masses and grant the desires of those they deemed worthy, since most only wanted simple things like more food, Atropos noticed a person wearing John Constantine's coat; she knew that the Legends were attempting to get to the Loom. Atropos put one of her twin daggers to the throat of Sara Lance when she caught Sara in the room that housed the Loom. As the two fought, Sara was able to avoid being killed. Suddenly, Behrad and Zari Tarazi both used the Air Totem to thrust Atropos into the Loom. Sara pulled the goddess' life string and entangled it with the many strings the Loom was already manipulating. The Fate screamed as she and the object exploded. [5]
Powers and abilities
Powers
- "Atropos doesn't let people live."
- —Charlie to Sara Lance[src]
- Deity physiology/Bond with the Loom of Fate : Atropos is a Greek Fate; which makes her capable of performing supernatural feats.[1]The powers of Atropos are directly linked to the integral status of the Loom of Fate. When it is intact, she is at her full capacity. When it is broken into separate pieces and they are scattered throughout different dimensions and/or universes, her powers are drastically diminished. When its pieces are broken but are in the same plane/dimension/universe, her powers are at near full capacity.[1] Following the destruction of the Loom, Atropos lost all of her powers and became human.
- Sisterly bond: Atropos could directly communicate with her sister, Clotho, albeit via pain-inflicting whispers. This can only be achieved if the pieces of the Loom of Fate exist on the same plane/dimension/universe.[1]
- Shapeshifting: Atropos could shape-shift into John Constantine.[2]
- Weapon formation: Atropos could create weapons made of her own bones.[2]
- Death inducement: Revealing Atropos's true form would kill the mortal who sees it. Sara Lance was unaffected by it due to being immortal. According to Clotho, it was Atropos's job to cut the threads of the Loom of Fate, ending a person's life at a predetermined date. She can also kill a person by pulling a thread out from a person's body that represented their life and cutting it.
- Accelerated healing factor: Atropos could heal from a sword stab through her stomach and keep fighting as if it never happened.
- Reanimation: As she was technically a goddess of death, Atropos could raise the dead into zombies that do her bidding.[3]
- Immortality: As a god; Atropos was immortal. After the destruction of the Loom, she became human; as such could be killed.
- Power bestowal: Atropos could bestow powers onto any mortal who survived her death inducement, as Sara gained the ability to see into the future after looking upon Atropos' true form.[6]
- Sisterly bond: Atropos could directly communicate with her sister, Clotho, albeit via pain-inflicting whispers. This can only be achieved if the pieces of the Loom of Fate exist on the same plane/dimension/universe.[1]
Abilities
- Master hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Atropos is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist; she was able to best Sara Lance, a master hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist in her own right easily, although the latter managed to fight her on equal grounds in their second confrontation, only losing because she became distracted.[2]
- Master knife wielder/Knife thrower: Atropos is highly skilled at using knives in combat; as she was able to seriously injure John Constantine with her knife bones.[2]
- Expert of deception/Manipulator: As Atropos' shape-shifting powers replicate the physical form and voice of a person, she must instead rely on natural acting.[2]
Appearances
DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Season 3
Season 5
|
Behind the scenes
- In Greek mythology, Atropos is, as on the show, the Fate in charge of cutting the strings of fate, ending people’s lives. As mentioned on the show, she and her sisters are typically depicted as old ladies, unlike the form they are usually in on the show.
- Atropos appearing in the episode where some of the Legends visit where "Supernatural" is filmed is a shout out to the fact that in one episode, the Winchesters, heroes of the show, had a run-in with Atropos in the episode "My Heart Will Go On" where she was killing descendants of people who should have died when the Titanic sank but didn't due to Castiel's interference preventing the ship from sinking.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Mortal Khanbat"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Zari, Not Zari"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "I Am Legends"
- ↑ "The One Where We're Trapped On TV"
- ↑ "Swan Thong"
- ↑ "Ship Broken"