As we’ll see shortly, many of the older Gods, despite Their many powers, really didn’t know how to fashion material things – from weapons to vehicles to celestial palaces. While there are numerous cross-cultural examples (the Vedic Vishvakarma/Tvastar comes to my mind), let’s look at how the Greek and Norse deities maneuvered around their own inabilities, and were able to entice divine and/or enchanted beings to forge their desires…

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Hephaestus:

Hephaestus was a an Olympic God who was cast down from the sacred mountain. Now, as with almost all Greek myths, there are several variants – I’m choosing the one that was most often depicted by Attic vase painters, and which was a beloved image among the Etruscans.

In this versions of the story, Hera produces Hephaestus parthenogenically, i.e. without a consort; this was an attempt to snub Zeus, who had likewise given “birth” to Athena without Hera’s involvement…