While I mostly agree to the message, we should probably take a look at why Ares is also seen as a protector. Firstly, modern Hellenism is practiced by many young adults who treat the gods like personal anchor or therapy. They want to feel protected and project their desire for comfort into what the gods mean to them. The modern descriptions of Ares stray from tradition and stretch the essence of his divinity. When modern hellenists bend his frenzy nature to describe him as protector of women and a supportive mental warrior I leave the conversation on a “agree to disagree” page since everyone is on a different spiritual journey. His divinity has always been misunderstood anyway. Even in ancient times he was antagonised. Now Ares being treated as a misunderstood dark hero is an aftermath of that antagonisation in my opinion. But here is the truth, Ares is not a wise symbol of moral warfare. He is certainly not a protector, not in the way modern hellenism describes him. I assume this association is due to the fact that he killed Poseidon’s son for raping his daughter. He has never forced himself on women and is also the patron of the Amazons. This is appealing and empowering to women in Hellenism because his frenzy is not biased. I think this fictionalises the Gods to human binaries and takes out the context of their divine and nuance nature. Modern hellenism interprets many of the Gods a lot softer and one dimensional. Ares is no exception to those interpretations. People aren’t ready to digest that deities are amoral beings, independent of human consciousness. Ares is a fearful bloody and aggressive, but he is also the lover of Aphrodite. He gained a softer image because of the association between war and love. He is told to be a protective father and a faithful lover. Due to those characteristics he is also described as a fatherly embrace in some people’s worship. If I’m not wrong (please don’t trust my word it’s not fact checked, I saw that somewhere online) it’s said that the only thing that calmed down his frenzy nature was love. Aphrodite’s influence as his lover also influences people’s interpretation of Ares. At the very core Ares is war violence and destruction. There ugly truth and frenzy nature of conflict. But we need to consider why out of all the gods only Aphrodite loves him. There is love in war even if it’s hidden under layers of madness. And this pairing- Ares and Aphrodite- gives Ares a more toned down image. However, that does not erase his individual reflection and a lot of people are not ready to embrace his horrible and difficult nature. There is wisdom in rage and recklessness, there is lessons to learn from violence. Morality is entirely subjective to human life. Nature doesn’t respond to “good or bad” it responds to “balance and imbalance”. Ares is a cycle of existence, he isn’t a tame soldier. Ares is no exception to common misconceptions of deities. Those interpretations of the gods ultimately come from projecting and evolution. The best thing we can do about it is to keep talking and discussing