'Krypton': Who Is Cythonna?

Tonight's episode of Krypton dove even deeper into Superman's mythos by circling back to Krypton's religion and its first gods.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Krypton, "House of Zod", below.

After escaping the Black Zero agents that had been holding him prisoner, Seg (Cameron Cuffe) ends up in the frozen Kyrptonian wilderness. However, they are not far behind him, so Seg goes back to the compound to try to call for help. Instead, he finds a prisoner who claims to know the way to freedom, so he frees her and off they go. The pair are eventually stopped by a group of armed soldiers who then notice Seg's House El symbol and take him to a place deeper into the compound.

It's there that Seg is approached by a woman dressed regally and carrying a scepter of sorts who invokes the name of Cythonna, Krypton's Ice Goddess, and it is revealed that the people that surround Seg are Cythonnites -- followers of the Ice Goddess. As we mentioned when going over Krypton's religion, Cythonna is one of Krypton's first gods. A powerful female deity that first appeared in 1999's Superman: The Last God of Krypton, Cythonna was a cruel and evil god from a place of ice and blackness. Unlike other gods, Cythonna could not bear children. Instead she could only give birth to terrible ice monsters. She eventually arrived on Krypton and attempted to make Rao -- the sun god -- her mate. Rao saw through her scheme and rejected her. That rejection led to the Wars of Ice and Fire, wars which ended with Rao exiling Cythonna, banishing her into the frozen void.

That banishment appears to be what Seg encounters with these Cythonnites. The group huddled together in some sort of refugee colony outside Kandor City is distrustful not just of Seg, but of where he comes from. They may offer to heal his injuries, but they are also trying to decide what to do with him, and it's revealed that the House of El has caused massive destruction and devastation before.

In comics, Cythonna broke free from her prison when years after Krypton's destruction and, upon detecting the last remnant of Rao in Superman, came to Earth to destroy him. Cythonna was ultimately defeated by Superman, becoming entrapped inside the core of the sun after having been weakened by a Kryptonite grenade. While that's likely not where Krypton is heading with things, introducing Cythonna's followers is a very interesting move, one that will likely have much bigger implications as the season continues.

Krypton airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Syfy.