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Artemis and Apollo are twins, perhaps the only immortal full-blooded siblings in Greek mythology. As they have similarities, they also are polar opposites to each other.
Artemis is a goddess of the moon, so of course the moon would shine right through her. She had blue, pupiless eyes (common for any god, due to their divinity), flourescent blue hair, light blue skin, and wears the simplest of dresses that does not even come across her knees. She wears her hair in braids, has a posture of a stern, cold, woman. She will always be the more intimidating of them both. She is the goddess of the moon, the hunt, archery, virginity, maidens, childbirth and nature.
And then there is Apollo.
Apollo, as bright as the sun, with golden eyes and hair and skin, his smile contagious and his future bright. After Leto had given birth to him, after those agonizingly slow days, Apollo decides that he was not worthy to be in Olympus, unless he makes achievements of his own. Artemis went to Olympus, and came back with her Hunters and being pledged as a maiden for all eternity.
He loves his sister, and wishes for her to be happy. He loves her mother, and wishes for her to be happy as well. Hera, the Queen, being the petty woman she is, decides to send a giant after Leto to assault her. He was disgusted, and takes the giant's life with his golden arrow, which he shoots to his heart.
He considers himself worthy, and thinks that he must go to Olympus to reunite with her sister.
Except, Hera decides to send Python after Leto, and rampage around his grandmother Phoebe's cave. Oh, yes. The rotting smell of carnage, the Python's breath, it made Apollo enraged that such a disgusting thing would dare set foot in his family's sacred floors. With just one arrow, he kills the fiend. He did not need to drag out the fight. He decides to name this cave Pythia, and establish an Oracle of Delphi.
Apollo had met Helios when he met Phoebe and decides to introduce him to her children. Helios was the same as Apollo; golden hair, eyes and skin, except he has a sun emblem behind him. He is a titan god of the sun. But Helios does not have Apollo's bright smile. The first time the god sees him, he had pursed lips and a frown on his face. Apollo is anything but the sun.
He stays at the palace of Helios, watching his cousin ride the sun chariot with all its glory. Apollo wishes to ride that sun chariot daily, disappearing once Selene rides over the world. But as he stays in Helios' palace, he can shift the radiation of the sun chariot. Once the day was over, Helios had walked up to Apollo and told him how much his light manipulation was useful.
Apollo was in love with songs. He loves the way the mortals play it, and enjoys learning it himself with the many instruments given to him. He keeps reminding himself to go to Olympus, to go to his sister and reunite with her, but it cannot hurt staying in the mortal world for just a little while, can in not? He listens into the scholars and philosophers, learning of the truth of the universe, the knowledge it brings him, their beautiful songs, their poetry.
One day, as he was tweaking his bow, in his shock, he sees what the world is: the majority of possibilities in one look, how much light the sun can luminate in the vast thickness of the forest, and everything in between. Then he gets up from the rock he was sitting on, and starts to muse and recite poetry, as if he was practicing poetry at such a young age. The river's running waters, rustling of trees, the chirping of birds, they all sound like music to him, as he twangs his bow, humming a sweet song.
Athena, the goddess of warfare and strategy, to name a few, had asked him to help her judge a mortal that had been plagued by the Furies after he had killed his mother. He was nervous, in fact; gods never get nervous. But he is intimidated by Athena, after all, she is a goddess of war, strategy, and architecture. Athena assigned him to defend the mortal boy, Orestes, from the Furies along with the Athenian Judicial System. He had to support and help this boy at all costs, even if it means going with the standardized mysogonist views on women in Ancient Greece. After Orestes had told his story, Apollo deems his story as the truth. When the Furies try to riot, his voice is enough to ensure peace and order in the court.
It is true that he is in love with himself. With the many mortal men and women ogling at his feet, he feels truly proud of his looks; he can charm people all the way through. This does not need anymore context.
He has listened to the many sayings of philosophers and scholars, but there was something missing. And once a philosopher-the first mathemathician finally made their breakthrough of using numbers and calculating them, Apollo claps happily as he gains another domain, as he gains more knowledge, as he gains more understanding at the world around him.
Apollo is in love with the cities of Ancient Greece, the way they build their pillars out of nothing, their homes, every thing. And of course, the majestic temples Apollo loves to venture in, looking at them in wonder. He wonders if these masterpieces can be preserved through time, through every challenge it will face. That day forward, he starts to look to tribes and homeless people, whispering into their ears that day can finally be happy if they build a city. Of course, they have to sacrifice to him first. And he smirks as two more are added to his domain.
Apollo dislikes venturing into Olympian meetings. As much as he likes bickering with Artemis, or playing mischievous pranks with Hermes, he dislikes others fighting with each other. His being is entirely reason, harmony, and moderation. He tries to appease the atmosphere with his godly powers, but the Olympians' energies are too strong for his taste, as he wallows in his peaceful mind.
Apollo becomes fascinated with medicine from the doctors. He sees all herbs and mixtures, and every thing as they try to cure a patient from death. They can handle simple diseases, like a fever or cold, but not malaria or anything like that. They could not save someone from internal bleeding, or an infected part of his body. Apollo tries and tries to give the doctor abilities to heal more mangled victims, but he himself does not wish to venture far from his place as a healing god.
After all, he was the one who created those diseases and sicknesses in the first place. At times when he is bitter with humanity, he creates a disease and let it spread around the world. He lets it destroy human being's bodies, leaving them to decay on the side of the road. He lets it destroy families, lives, and he lets it work the doctors to exhaustion. He smiles deviously at his work; healing and the plagues, and he loves how it contrasts deeply.
He loves men, yes. He is a protector of young men, like how his sister, Artemis, is a protector of young maidens around. As much as he loves falling in love with men, it is also his job to protect them as well. He supports them as they become a bachelor, as they pick someone with a fair match to them, Apollo watches from afar with a smile on his face.
He is the god of archery, god of prophecy, god of light, god of knowledge, god of poetry, god of music, god of justice, god of truth, god of guilt, god of order, god of beauty, god of maths, god of cities, god of architecture, his entire being reason, harmony and moderation, god of healing, god of plagues, god of bachelors.
Apollo is almost the god of every thing, but yet, we keep forgetting that he is the god of many things.