Ishtar Trisha Midnight Venus Astaroth
Sex	Female
Occupation	Goddess of Fertility
ENG VA	Erin Fitzgerald
JPN VA	皆川 純子 (Junko Minagawa)

Ishtar is the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is also known by the name Inanna in the Akkadian language.

She plays several parts in the game: most notably that of Trisha, the host of the Golden Playhouse, and Astaroth, the god (her avatar) behind the the mysterious deaths. She explains upon the player's unlocking of the Axis Mundi Babel stage that in reality, the entire purpose for the game and story was to find another consort for her, which is the 'player'. She seeks a replacement for her current consort, Dumuzid, because of his incessant cheating. (Ironically, she was said to have taken many lovers, who commonly ended up dead or worse when the goddess grew tired of them.)

RapunzelEdit

In the game of Rapunzel, the entire Extra Mode story tells the myth of Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld. In the real-life Sumerian myth, Ishtar journeys to the Underworld after the murder of one her sister's husbands, passing through seven gates to arrive, sacrificing an accessory or piece of clothing in each one. These contain her powers, so by the time she reaches the Queen of the Underworld (her sister Ereshkigal), she is powerless and naked.

The Queen of the Underworld inflicts her with disease and hangs her to die on a hook (in Rapunzel, she is hung by her hair); in her absence, all sexual activity ceases, leading to a slow, steady dying off of all things. After time has passed, her minister seeks aid from the gods to save Ishtar, who create two asexual beings to get the Water of Life from the Queen of the Underworld and resurrect her (in Rapunzel, her group of ministers sends a young male rogue to seduce the Queen in order to get the Water of Life).

The plan is a success and Ishtar is released, accompanied by demons to fulfill the pact she made with the Queen: another must take her place if she is to leave the Underworld. She comes across friends who are mourning her, and cannot condemn them. She eventually happens upon her husband, Dumuzid, who isn't mourning at all, but appears quite happy. In anger, she orders the demons to drag him to the Underworld, though his sister Geshtinanna agrees to take Dumizid's place for half of each year. (In Rapunzel, Dumuzid is openly committing adultery, causing him to lose his title as Ishtar's consort.)

ConsortEdit

Just as in the game, Sumerian mythology has Dumuzid the Shepherd (Tammuz) as Ishtar's consort and 'husband'. He has much of the same personality, and it is his lack of respect to her that condemns him to the Underworld.