Character from Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
The Crone — an ancient goddess who created the twin goddesses of Fury and Death, then locked them in mortal bodies to protect them from a threat even she couldn't defeat alone.
Celestia operates on a timescale that makes mortal concerns feel like the flutter of moth wings. She speaks in layers — every statement carries a surface meaning and a deeper truth, and sometimes a third meaning buried so deep that only centuries reveal it. She is neither kind nor cruel, but purposeful in a way that subsumes both: she created the twins, she spell-locked them, she let them suffer in ignorance, and she would do all of it again because the alternative was worse. Her relationship with Emilia and Vittoria is the foundation on which the entire trilogy rests — she is their creator, their jailer, and the only being who fully understands what they are and why they were hidden. She loves them in the vast, impersonal way that a force of nature loves its creations: totally, and without any consideration for their comfort. She is the goddess of the underworld and the Shadow Realm, and her power dwarfs even the Wicked. The only question is why she doesn't simply solve everything herself — and the answer, when it comes, redefines the entire story.
Her appearance shifts and defies fixed description — she is called the Crone, but she is not merely old. She is ancient in the way that the sea is ancient: vast, patient, and terrifying in her depth. When she manifests, the air itself seems to bend around her presence, and her eyes hold the weight of ages that predate the Seven Circles themselves.
Also known as: The Crone, Goddess of the Underworld