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Nyx’s children occupied a heavy percentage of Pandora’s Box. Since they came from a god they’re gods but the myths often refer to them as spirits of whichever concept they personify.

Momus was the spirit of mockery, satire, and unfair blame or criticism. He was not popular among the other gods and his mockery got him banished from Olympus.

According to Aesop’s Fables, Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena were arguing over who could make the very best good thing (because these competitions always go so well). Zeus made man, Athena made homes for men, and Poseidon broke the theme entirely by making a bull. They asked Momus to judge, but Momus is a nitpicky jerk, so he found fault with all the creations. According to Momus the Moron, Bulls should have eyes under their horns so they can aim where they gouge. Men need windows to their hearts. And the home should have been mobile. Infuriated with this condescending manner, the gods in question stopped bickering long enough to throw Momus off the mountain.

In other sources, he mocked Hephaestus for the poor design of the human body, picked on Aphrodite for being chatty (though other sources say Aphrodite is the only being he never found fault with), and he mocked Zeus for…being a womanizing POS (I kind of like Momus for that).

Momus gets mentions all throughout literature. He’s referenced in Plato’s Republic, Swift’s Battle of the Books, Thoreau’s Walden, and Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. I imagine they reference this god in particular to impress with their knowledge of otherwise obscure Greek deities. Well that and satire was kind of their specialty.

Momus also inspired the Knights of Momus, a Mardi Gras society of note.

Also in the box was Apate, the spirit of deception; Philotes, the spirit of affection (though the jury is still out on whether her brand of affection focused more on friendship or sex. Myths contradict where she is concerned); Oizys, the spirit of misery; and Geras, the spirit of old age. It looks like there were a ton of awesome myths about him, but they’ve all been lost to time. Irony.

Nyx also gave birth to a class of vampiric “death-fates” called the Keres. Their kind of like Valkyries only evil. These dark spirits fed off the wounded and dying on battlefields. The wounded weren’t granted a quick merciful death, either. First the soldier’s souls would be ripped free from their body, then spirits would fight over the corpse with gnashing and tearing teeth. Ouch. A few of the stronger Keres got their own names. There’s Anaplekte (quick, painful death); Akhlys (mist of death); Nosos (disease); Ker (destruction); and Stygere (hateful).

That’s the last of Nyx’s children and the end of the box. All that was left inside after all these fun deities escaped was Hope.

Eris was the god of strife, chaos, and discord. She is the daughter of Nyx, and sometimes Erebus, sometimes Cronus. Eris is the major deity behind Discordianism. Eris and Enyo, a younger goddess of war, are sometimes referred to interchangeably.

Eris is most famous for setting the Trojan War into motion. She was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, so she showed up anyway in a very Malificent move, bearing the gift of a golden apple. The gift, she explained, was intended for the most beautiful goddess in attendance. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite immediately began bickering over the apple, and in the end Paris was chosen to judge the divine beauty contest. Each goddess tried to bribe him, and Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful mortal woman on earth, Helen of Troy, won. Unfortunately, Helen was not yet of Troy, she was married to Menalaus, so when Paris kidnapped her he started the Trojan War.

The timing in the myth makes little sense. Peleus and Thetis would later give birth to Achilles, a major player in the Trojan War, so I’m not really sure how old the most beautiful woman in the world was at this point, or even if she or Paris should have technically been alive. But that’s neither here nor there.

Eris also played a major part in the love story of Polytekhnos and Aedon. The two claimed their love for one another rivaled Hera and Zeus’. Infuriated with the comparison, Hera sent Eris to make trouble. Both the humans were happily, and healthily pursuing their own interests and not hurting anyone. Polytekhnos was working on a chariot board and Aedon was weaving. Eris goaded them into a competition by proclaiming that whoever finished last would have to give the other a female servant.

Friendly competition, right?

Nope. Eris is VERY good at sowing discord.

Aedon finished first. Pride wounded, Polytekhnos retaliated by raping his wife’s sister, disguising her, and presenting her to his wife as her slave. Aedon, surprise surprise, recognized her sister and got pissed. So she chopped up Polytekhnos’ son and fed him to her husband. The gods looked down on the entire situation, jaws dropping, and no doubt wondering what the ever-loving heck had happened and turned the whole lot of humans involved into birds so they wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore.

Eris went on to produce the Kakodaimones. The kakodaimones were a set of evil spirits, specifically: Ponos (Toil), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Starvation), the Algea (Pains/weeping), the Hysminai (Fightings), the Makhai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders), the Androktasiai (Man-slaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Pseudo-Logoi (Lies), the Amphilogiai (Disputes), Dysnomia (Lawlessness), Ate (Ruin), and Horkos (Oath). (Thank you Theoi.)

Horkos, by the way, was only dangerous to oath breakers.

In Aesop’s fables, Eris and Hercules duke it out, kind of. Herc is just walking along when he sees a random apple on the ground and in true Herc fashion decides to smash it. Every time he smashes it, the apple doubles in size until the moral of the story, this time named Athena, walks in and tells Herc to ignore it. Strife only grows when you fight it.

Eris also drove an entire town of women to the murder of their husbands. She was on the wrong side of the Gigantomachy. She escorted Typhon into battle against Zeus.

Eris is like a dog with a bone. She doesn’t stop fighting or arguing until long after the conflict should have ended. She’s described in a variety of ways, but the description “blood soaked hair” stuck with me more than most. Not a goddess you want to end up on the wrong side of.

Nemesis was the goddess of revenge who sometimes went by Adrasteia. But it’s important to note she’s not evil. She’s balance. When someone has too much good fortune, she knocks them off their pedestal. When they commit a wrong, she sees that the pain they inflicted on others is restored to them full-fold.

She is either the daughter of Nyx alone, Nyx and Erebus, or a child of Oceanus, or even a daughter of Zeus. In some versions of the myths, she is also the mother of Helen of Troy and Castor and Pollux. In this lesser known version, she attempts to escape Zeus’ advances by turning into a goose, instead, Zeus turns into a swan and rapes her anyway. She lays three eggs, but before they can hatch she’s startled off by a random shepherd, who gives the eggs to Leda. They hatch and are, surprise, people, and the story continues from there unchanged.

Nemesis also introduced Narcissus to his reflection, killed a girl that offended Artemis, and set up the rape of a girl named Nikaia for killing Hymnos.

In some myths she hooks up with Tartarus and gives birth to the four Telchines: Aktaios, Megalesios, Ormenos and Lykos. In some versions there are nine of them, and in some versions they aren’t Nemesis’ offspring at all. The Telchines were the first inhabitants of the island of Rhodes. The Telchines were very skilled metal workers and made weapons for the gods. They were so good, they were sometimes worshipped themselves. They may have raised Poseidon or Zeus when Rhea had to hide them. They controlled wet weather and could shapeshift into any form they wanted. The Olympians eventually destroyed them because they created this mixture of Stygian water (water from the Styx) and sulfur that could destroy plants and animals.

You know how in a LOT of Greek myths the bad guys learn this horrible prophecy of their death by some small child and go out of their way to kill said small child, but actually end up forging small child into big hero? That’s thanks to Moros, child of the night (Nyx). Moros is the personification of doom, specifically the sense of impending doom that leads men to take drastic actions that actually lead them to their doomed fate. Also, he’s the god of depression. He was balanced by the spirit of hope, Elpis, the only good thing in Pandora’s box.

Moros often worked through the Oneiroi, the personification of dreams. But what about Morpheus you ask? Well, he’s sometimes described as one of the Oneiroi or even the leaders of the Oneiroi. See, the Oneiroi were not humanoid. Often described as black winged demons, or bat like creatures, the Oneiroi would pour out of Erebos, the land of eternal darkness beyond the rising sun in the dark of the night. The Oneiroi passed through one of two gates (pylai). The first of these, made of horn, was the source of the prophetic god-sent dreams, while the other, constructed of ivory, was the source of dreams which were false and without meaning. The term for nightmare was melas oneiros or the black dream, which makes me think of the Oni from teen-wolf, but that’s Japanese mythology.

There were three notable Oneiroi. Morpheus, who would appear as a man in the dreams of kings and could present human images; Icelos or Phobetor, who could grant visions of animals; and Phantasos, who could bring images of elements.

The Oneiroi were either the son of Nyx alone, Nyx and Erebus, Gaia, or a son of Hypnos. In the Illiad, Oneiroi is sent by Zeus to visit the dreams of Agamemnon to plant the seeds of war. So, basically, the Trojan War began thanks to inception.