The Spinner

Klotho is the youngest of the Three Fates, and the one who spins the thread of human life. This power enables her not only to choose who is born, but also to decide when gods or mortals are to be saved or put to death.

In mythology, it is said that she appears with her sisters within three days of a baby’s birth to decide the baby’s fate.

The Ivory Shoulder

“Pelops, that he who shakes the earth in his great strength, Poseidon, loved when Klotho lifted him out of the clear cauldron, his shoulder gleaming ivory.”

Philostratus the Elder

Tantalus was a mortal son of Zeus initially known for having been welcomed in Olympus, like Ixion. However, he is said to have abused Zeus’ hospitality and stolen ambrosia and nectar to bring it back to his people, and revealed the secrets of the gods. Most famously, Tantalus offered up his son, Pelops, as a sacrifice. He cut Pelops up, boiled him, and served him up in a banquet for gods in order to test their omniscience. The gods became aware of the gruesome nature of the menu, so they did not touch the offering; only Demeter, distraught by the loss of her daughter, Persephone, absentmindedly ate part of the boy’s shoulder.

Klotho, one of the three Moirai, was ordered by Zeus to bring the boy to life again. She collected the parts of the body and boiled them in a sacred cauldron, rebuilding his shoulder with one wrought of ivory made by Hephaestus and presented by Demeter.

The revived Pelops grew to be an extraordinarily handsome youth. The god Poseidon took him to Mount Olympus to teach him to use chariots. Later, Zeus threw Pelops out of Olympus due to his anger at Tantalus. Pelops became a king, was integral to the founding myth of the Olympic Games, and became the progenitor of a very long and famous line: the house of Atreus.

Klotho in the 6th Age

“The gods were moved; but none can break the ancient Sisters’ iron decrees.”

Ovid

As one of the Three Fates, Klotho assisted Hermes in creating the alphabet, forced the goddess Aphrodite into making love with other gods, weakened the monster Typhon with poison fruit, persuaded Zeus to kill Asclepius with a bolt of lightning, and aided the gods in their war with the Giants by killing Agrius and Thoas with bronze clubs. She was remorseless and unfeeling in her manipulations, a true daughter of Ananke, the goddess of Necessity.

Klotho was a gifted Healer and one of the Age’s most notorious Restorers. She also possessed the Talent to identify those souls most important to the Weaving of the Pattern, and used this knowledge alongside the gifts of her sisters to determine the fates they together bestowed.

Notably in this life she had the ability to foretell the birth of prominent figures of fate, be he man or deity. It was Klotho who sourced the prophetic return of gods to the Atharim legend: and named one “Apollyon.”

Of the three Sisters that made up the Court of the Moirai, Klotho was the one who kept the most distance from gods and mortals alike.

Court of the Moirai

Nay, as Fate does not abruptly interfere in human affairs, but avails herself of intermediate causes, and determines the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom, is allowed to exercise a certain influence upon her.

Homer

The Moirai were independent from the ruling brothers’ kingdoms. They sat at the helm of necessity to direct fate, and watched that what they decreed might take its course without obstruction. Zeus, as well as the other gods and mortal man, had to submit to them. Lakhesis represented the things that were, Klotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be. The Sisters attended to the thrones of both Zeus and Hades, and their ministers were all soothsayers and oracles. Though their identities were not unknown, the Sisters were nearly always veiled when they went about their work. As such, a veiled Fate is a fearsome sight indeed.

See: The Moirai

Associations

• Atropos, She Who Cannot Be Turned
• Lakhesis, The Apportioner of Lots
• Hades, Ruler of the Underworld
• Zeus, Ruler of Olympus

Previous Lives

In every Age she is born with a profound gift for Healing. Sometimes she is born a minor ta’veren, gifted at shaping the world beyond her control. Sometimes she has the gift of sensing it in others, furthermore able to differentiate those individuals destined for greatness. She is never born with empathy, enabling her to act without being swayed by concern for others. Her soul is an arbiter of balance, taking no sides, and always respun with a desire to shape and change the world around her.

In some Ages, her soul is spun out with others. In the times these other souls are born, and the three meet, the combination of their various gifts is potent.

• 1st Age: Helena Asquith
• 3rd Age: Talin Sedai, of the Yellow Ajah