Favorite Rare Parentages in Greek Mythos
In no order whatsoever:
Prometheus - Son of Hera
"When Hera was being raised by her parents, one of the Giants, Eurymedon, raped her and made her pregnant. She gave birth to Prometheus. Zeus later married his sister [Hera], and when he found out what had happened, he threw Eurymedon into Tartaros, and hung Prometheus up in chains (he used the fire as a pretext)." - Euphorion, D Scholia to the Iliad Not Zeus pulling a Hera before it was even a thing by punishing Prometheus for circumstances of his birth that he couldn't control. But it makes him an outsider who rose up, did the right thing despite it all, and perhaps, made his mother proud.
Helen - Daughter of Nemesis
But some say that Helen was a daughter of Nemesis and Zeus... and the fruit of their loves she laid an egg, and a certain shepherd found it in the groves and brought and gave it to Leda; and she put it in a chest and kept it; and when Helen was hatched in due time, Leda brought her up as her own daughter. - Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.10.7 Symbolically, this makes Helen not just the catalyst of the war, but also someone embodying her mother's domain, as several players of the war like Achilles, Agamemnon, Ajax, Priam, and Paris suffer for their hubris. Each of their deaths become long overdue consequences coming back to bite them. Plus, I like the idea of Nemesis punishing Paris by guiding the arrow that killed him, for kidnapping her daughter
Hector - Son of Apollo
Stesichorus and Euphorion say that Hector was the son of Apollo and Alexander the Aetolian. Stesichorus and Euphorion and Alexander the Aetolian say that Hector was the son of Apollo. - Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 265 Other than not being a Hector/Apollo fan, it does raise a personal stake for Apollo ensuring Hector's safety throughout the Iliad, going above and beyond for him, and even begging Zeus to have his body returned. Plus, it gives him a vendetta to kill Neoptolemus for killing Astyanax, who in this tradition, would have been his grandson.
Neoptolemus - Son of Iphigenia
"He calls Iphigenia the "first-born mother" because, according to some, Pyrrhus was born from her and Achilles." - Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem - 183 This would make Iphigenia's sacrifice hurt Achilles even more as he loses someone he loved and the mother of his child, and his hate for Agamemnon would stem from somewhere deeper than their shared arrogance. He might see it as betrayal, and how would Agamemnon react to his grandson, the last piece of Iphigenia, going to Troy? And how does Neo react to the grandfather who condemned him to become an orphan?
Prometheus becomes the child punished for something that wasn't his fault.
Helen becomes the daughter of Retribution at the center of a war fueled by human hubris.
Hector becomes Apollo's son, making his death, and Astyanax's death, a divine family tragedy.
And Neoptolemus becomes the living consequence of Agamemnon's sacrifice.
