Heroic Associations

Gonna go out on a limb and say that I'm pretty sure now that Hephaistos is (another) Horos.

1. The name Hephaistos is not terribly different from the Egyptian heru-pa-khered "Horos the Younger."

2. Hephaistos was born lame, just like Horos.

3. Hephaistos treated his mother cruelly, just like Horos (though imprisoning her is, granted, a lot better than beheading her).

4. Hephaistos was banished from heaven, just like Horos.

5. Hephaistos was only restored back to heaven by Dionusos, just like heroes (Horoi) are only restored back to heaven by the application of the mysteries. (Indeed, Horos himself was only restored back to heaven through Osiris's intervention.)

6. Hephaistos is associated with fire (and Fire), just as Horos comes to be (after recovering his father's throne).

I think it is interesting that Hephaistos married (in Homer) Grace or (in Hesiod) Radiance (after losing his first wife, Aphrodite), while Heracles married Youth (after losing several earlier wives, including Husband-Killer, whose name you'd think would have been a hint), Jason married Princess (after abandoning his first wife, Cunning), Theseus married Bright (after abandoning his first wife, Holiest), etc. etc. etc. Horos's consorts are less clear to me, and, alas, poor Apollo never seemed to have much luck with anyone.