Lydia Griffiths
Mythologist · Fandom Scholar · Cultural Story Interpreter
The ancient story inside the one
you can't stop thinking about.
Why do we fall apart over fictional characters?
Why does a broken hero feel more true than a triumphant one?
Why do the same stories keep coming back, in different masks, different universes, different centuries?
Lydia Griffiths studies the myth beneath the obsession. With a PhD in Mythology and a deep fluency in fandom culture. From the MCU to AO3, from ancient underworld journeys to AI origin stories, she brings the oldest interpretive tools in human history to the stories contemporary culture can't put down.
She is co-founder of the International Society of Mythology and has published on everything from hurt/comfort fanfiction as an underworld journey to the archetypal Hermes living inside social media.
Speaking on Myth, Story & Culture
Why Superheroes Are Our Modern Gods
The Myth of the American Frontier
Apocalypse as Cultural Ritual
Motherhood as Archetypal Transformation
Personal Myth & Identity
Myth in popular film & television
American identity & national narrative
Archetypes in contemporary culture
Motherhood as transformation
Personal myth & life narrative
Areas of Focus
Publications
“Steve Rogers Needs a Hug” Hurt/Comfort Fanfiction as an Underworld Journey and the Unmaking/Making of a Hero
“Mythical AI: The Long Relationship with AI Through Myth and Alchemy” Depth Psychology, Myth and Artificial Intelligence
Soul and the Machine
“Hermes Overdosed: The Archetypal Hermes in Social Media”
Mythological Studies Journal Vol. XI
“Tumblr’s Reception of Webtoon Lore Olympus’ Apollo”
Mythological Studies Journal Vol. X
“Worms, Serpents, and Dragons: Mythic Symbology of Transformation”
The International Society of Mythology
Appearances
“Myth and Religion” on Unbound Podcast
“Hurt/Comfort fan fiction as an Underworld Journey and the Unmaking/Making of a Hero”
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, 2023 Presenter
“Responsibility and Fear: An Examination of AI and Co-Exsistance”
NorthEast Popular Culture Association, 2023 Presenter
“Clint Barton in Ceiling Vents: why local re-tellings matter”
Mythologium, 2024 Presenter