Thetis was one of the more aloof of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. She was one of a group known as sea nymphs who often served to provide cover and healing for frequently warring Gods such as Hephaestus and Dionysus. She was courted by Zeus and Poseidon, both of which she scorned. Through most of her life, she sought to maintain the near-primordial, untainted status as sea Goddess, an androgynous state akin to that of celibate priests or monks. Zeus, however, prophesied that her son would be more powerful than himself, so he forced her to marry an unimportant mortal named Peleus. She bore Peleus the famous son Achilles who she was attempting to convert into an immortal by burning away his immortal flesh. The androgynous mother was seeking to pass along at least one androgynous trait to her son; immortality, or the lack of the need to procreate or replicate onesself. As she was nearly finished with her conversion of Achilles from immortal to mortal, however, her husband Peleus caught her at which point she fled to the ocean never to return. Of course Achilles' last bit of mortal flesh, his heal, led to his death.

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