Content Warning: The source text and this section of the guide include discussions of violence and mild sexual content. 

After Hera throws Hephaestus off Mount Olympus, a water nymph takes him in, and Hephaestus learns to create things. All the while, he plots revenge on Hera, and when he finally returns to Mount Olympus, he brings all the gods new thrones. When Hera sits in hers, invisible ropes wrap around her so tightly that she can’t move or breathe. Hephaestus wants her to suffer for tossing him off Mount Olympus: “[M]aybe you’ll understand that you threw away something valuable” (296). The gods try but fail to convince Hephaestus to free Hera, until Dionysus takes Hephaestus out for drinks. Afterward, Hephaestus confesses all his inner turmoil to Dionysus, who convinces Hephaestus to release Hera because revenge won’t make anything better.

Hephaestus and Hera overcome their resentment, and Hephaestus even rescues Hera when Zeus strings her up after the gods try to overthrow him. As punishment for going against him, Zeus throws Hephaestus off Mount Olympus. After that, Hephaestus spends most of his time at his workshops, creating everything from tripods (three-legged table servants for the gods) to automatons.