Rhea

Rhea is the Titan goddess of fertility, motherhood, comfort, and ease. She was the sister-wife of the Titan King Cronus and mother of the six Elder Olympian gods (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades and Zeus).

Early Life
Rhea was the youngest daughter among the Titans, the eldest of the three races born to Gaia (the Mother Earth) and Uranus (the Father Sky). All races were detested by their father, but he detested the younger children, the Elder Cyclopes and the Hekatonkeries so much (mainly for their ugliness) that he imprisoned them in the terrifying abyss of Tartarus. Around this time very early in her life, a scared, young Rhea planted the Grove of Dodona, a stand of sacred oaks that could speak and issue prophecies occasionally.

Enraged for her husband's actions, Gaia told her remaining children to avenge their brothers and overthrow and kill their arrogant, sadistic father. Rhea seemed shocked at the prospect of murdering her own father since she hadn't thought it possible to kill an immortal. Even after the concept was explained to her, she, her sisters and their eldest brother Oceanus, refused to participate.

After successfully murdering Uranus with help from Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, and Iapetus, Cronus proceeded to crown himself King of the universe and usher in an era of peace and prosperity for the Titans, which would later become known as the "Golden Age." As he had promised, Cronus released the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheire brothers from Tartarus. Believing everything was fine now, their mother decided to rest for many thousands of years.

The Titaness of Motherhood and Queen of Othrys
During the Golden Age, Rhea became the Titaness of Motherhood and always helped her sisters deliver and raise all of their children (Eos, Helios, Selene, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Leto, Perses, and others). Rhea came to appreciate animals very much, though she favored lions, who pulled her golden chariot. Her kind and easy-going nature earned her the love of her entire family. She would frequently approach her clairvoyant siblings Phoebe and Coeus with questions about the future.

However, Rhea was the most beautiful Titaness of all, which quickly earned her the attention of Cronus himself. Since the Titan King feared their father's curse that he would be overpowered by one of his own children, Cronus had initially vowed to not get married. However, after all eleven of his elder brothers and sisters got married and formed families, they no longer visited him. Despite enjoying his authority and power, he got lonely and depressed. When his siblings claimed to be too busy, Cronus knew that the actual reason was their secret fear of his power and infamous temper. He seemed to believe that marrying Rhea would improve his personality and induce his siblings to fear him less. In the end, Cronus proposed to Rhea on Mount Othrys, to which she accepted.

Cronus and Rhea's wedding was held at Mount Othrys. Rhea had one bridesmaid, her sister Tethys. Cronus had one best man, his brother Hyperion. All the Titans were allowed to come. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky, blossoming flowers, and a waterfall behind them. Rhea's dress was made by the Elder Cyclopes (before they were put back into Tartarus): it was a long white and red dress with a diamond sash. Her long, black hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. She walked down a carpet of flowers. Her two loyal lions accompanied her at the reception, which was served with nectar and ambrosia.

Birth of the Olympian Gods
The newlyweds enjoyed a wonderful honeymoon together. A few weeks later, Rhea gave birth to their first child: a beautiful girl named Hestia. At first, Cronus seemed willing to be a good father and not to resemble Uranus. However, the Titan King suddenly realized that Hestia wasn't a Titaness, but rather, a more powerful and beautiful immortal. Fearing that Hestia might one day overpower him, Cronus quickly swallowed her whole, to the horror of Rhea. Rhea thought of many plans to free Hestia, but she feared to harm her in the process.

Trying to calm his wife, Cronus would give Rhea many gifts and invite her to magnificent dinners. She would give birth to two even more powerful, beautiful daughters (Demeter and Hera), and two strong, handsome sons (Hades and Poseidon), all of whom were gods, not Titans. As before, Cronus feared that any one of them might one day overpower him and swallowed all of them whole. Rhea pleaded with Cronus to spare their children but with no success, since even Cronus' love for Rhea wasn't enough to overpower his selfish and cruel nature.

A distraught Rhea soon heard the voice of her sleeping mother, who advised her to give birth to her final child on the island of Crete and that he would save his other siblings. Claiming that Coeus advised her to do so, Rhea successfully departed for Crete. There, in a cave at the base of Mount Ida, Rhea gave birth to her sixth and final child, who she named Zeus. She gave her newborn son to the nine nymphs  that attended his birth and returned to Mount Othrys. Using a huge smooth boulder from Gaia, Rhea deceived Cronus by wrapping the boulder up in swaddling clothes and pretending that it was her final child. As his body was struggling with the young gods inside himself (all of them had been growing undigested in Cronus' stomach, being powerful immortals), Cronus swallowed the rock without even looking. Rhea would secretly visit Zeus on Crete and helped the nymphs to raise him. While he was growing, he suckled the milk of the magical goat Amaltheia.

Zeus Rescues His Siblings
When Zeus grew to adulthood, Rhea advised her son to turn into a Titanic version of himself. She took him to Cronus on Mount Othrys, where she introduced Zeus to him as a young Titan who wished to become his royal cup bearer. Cronus, who was very impressed by Zeus' excellent singing, dancing and joking skills, promptly hired him. Shortly thereafter, Zeus encouraged the Titans to participate in drinking contests. As the Titan King, Cronus would always win since he couldn't let his siblings or nephews overcome him in anything. Cronus eventually began trusting Zeus, which is exactly what the latter was waiting for.

One evening when Cronus was dining together with his brothers and nephews, Zeus prepared a special set of drinks for them all. Zeus prepared nectar mixed with sleeping potion to Cronus' guests, while he prepared an extremely powerful emetic for Cronus himself. Near the end of the Titanic banquet, Zeus encouraged all of the Titans to have another drinking contest and handed out the prepared goblets. As before, Cronus won the contest, but Zeus' emetic was so powerful, that it forced him to instantly disgorge all of the contents of his stomach, in reverse order of swallowing: first the boulder, then Poseidon, followed by Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.

Zeus quickly introduced himself to his elder siblings and all of them quickly escaped from Mount Othrys before their Titanic uncles and cousins came to their senses. In Zeus' Cave, at the base of Mount Ida, Rhea happily reunited with her children, tearfully embracing all of them individually. Shortly thereafter, all of her children accepted Zeus as their leader mainly because he saved them and reached a unanimous consensus on declaring war against their tyrannical father. Since they still had no weapons, Rhea advised them to release their Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkerie uncles (all of whom were excellent blacksmiths), whom were reput to Tartarus by Cronus because of the noise they made and their stench. Her eldest son Hades agreed to lead them there.

First Titanomachy
After returning from Tartarus with the freed Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkeries, all six of Rhea's children quickly declared war against their father and the other Titans. Shortly before the Titanomachy began, Rhea personally visited all of her Titanic nieces and nephews, convincing all of them (except for Atlas who was a loyal follower of Cronus) to remain neutral in the upcoming conflict and help her children. Her eldest brother Oceanus remained neutral as well.

The resulting Titanomachy was utterly terrifying and lasted for 10 long years.

The Titans initially had the upper hand in their battles with the gods, since they were well armed and much more experienced warriors. However, the gods quickly became skilled warriors as well, and with the help of their new extremely powerful weapons (Zeus' Master Bolt, Poseidon's Trident, and Hades' Helm of Darkness) and the aid of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkeries, the gods finally prevailed. During the final battle, Zeus and his siblings ascended to Mount Olympus (the tallest mountain in Greece after Mount Othrys), used his Master Bolt to shear off the top of Mount Othrys and hurl Cronus from his Black Throne, defeating the Titan King, invading the ruins of Mount Othrys, and finally overwhelmed the remaining Titans. Zeus proceeded to take his father's sharp scythe, Skybender, and slice him into a thousand pieces just as the Titan Lord had done to Ouranos. He later punished Atlas by making him hold up the weight of the sky while the other Titans involved in the war were banished down to Tartarus.

After the War
After the First Titanomachy, Rhea still retained a place of utter prominence in the new order, for she was able to make decisions regarding her children, who had become the new official rulers of the world. She planned a great celebration party in which all the gods, pacifist titans, nymphs and satyrs  were invited. She later advised Poseidon to explore his new domains of the seas when she sensed the tension between him and Zeus, and sent Hera to her siblings Oceanus and Tethys so she could learn to control her bad temper.

Gigantomachy
However, the defeat of the Titans caused Gaia to stir in her sleep and enraged that her own children had been banished to Tartarus even though she helped the gods for Rhea's sake. Gaia consulted with the lord of the pit and gave birth to a new set of children, the Giants.

After the jealous Hera cursed the then demigod Dionysus with madness, Rhea, then based in the land of Phrygia in Anatolia, found and healed her grandson, later instructing him in her religious rites.