Ananke calling Persephone "The Destroyer" might have some mythological basis. Persephone was known as The Destroyer by the other members of the Greek pantheon. She was more feared than Hades because he was content to allow events to take their course, while she hunted and brutally punished those who offended her.
A lot of things about Woden actually being David Blake make sense in hindsight. For instance, Ananke's speech about how terrible he is as a person? It's actually about what he did to his son. Kerry's comments about how he can't get it up and what's under the mask? David's age makes it difficult to get a boner, and Kerry likely would have realised that "Woden" was much older than he was supposed to be, thus making shutting her up a priority. After she tried to kill him, Woden's musing that, "A god can't be hurt" makes considerable sense when followed with, "But I'm not one." His thinking, "How ironic," when Kerry tries the Prometheus Gambit makes a lot more sense - she's trying to steal a god's powers from someone who stole powers himself. His monologue to Cass about how most men are sacrificed to benefit their fathers suddenly sounds like a Sarcastic Confession. All his womanising and substance-abuse isn't because he's trying to enjoy what little life he has left, he's doing it because he thinks it's the life he should have had. He never actually told Urdr that he was Jon Blake - instead, he brought up her pre-transition life to piss her off enough that she accepted his answers without realising that he was brushing her off. Ananke never told him about the Great Darkness because he's not a god, so he's no use in fighting against it. And Woden cast a vote to study the Great Darkness, which would be in keeping with David Blake's real occupation as a Pantheon researcher.
What was the lie that She-in-Thirds, Ananke's sister told to ensure that there would always be a way out? It wasn't that "If my god has a child, the cycle ends... it was that there must be twelve gods. Emphasis on the word gods. If Ananke does not have any gods left, the cycle is broken because she cannot perform the ritual. This means that if all of the gods died... Ananke would lose. That Overly Long Gag of the great darkness was foreshadowing. Ananke still was able to return because she had three gods... four including her.
Ananke tells Baphomet that the Prometheus gambit works if you're already a god yourself, and so he can steal himself a few more years by killing other members of the Pantheon, then tells him that this means if any other gods die, she'll blame him and so he'd better behave. At first it seems ludicrous that Ananke really thought this would keep Baphomet in line, instead of what happens, which is that he immediately goes off the rails and attacks Inanna. Shouldn't she know better? But then she kills Laura, and it makes perfect sense. She wasn't trying to restrain Baphomet. She was setting him up.
A few aspects about the historical specials become this once you reread them - some people managed to already catch a few things:
455 AD: Lucifer mentions that Minerva "disappeared" while looking for the Great Library of Alexandria. Once you know that Minerva and Ananke are one in the same? Yep... she didn't disappear. This is also why the Crone is here to finish it off and it didn't end with Lucifer's head being taken - the Crone and Maiden already had them.
1370s: This issue shows only two gods still alive - The Maiden and Lucifer. At the end? We see the Maiden carrying off a bag - the Crone and Lucifer died together so thus the ritual can be performed.
1831: Only eleven gods were mentioned - Lucifer, Inanna, Woden, The Morrigan, Hades, Sisters of the Parsonage, Hestia, Morpheus, Thoth, Perun, and the Angel of Soho. Minerva was never mentioned... but we learn that there was a Persephone.
1920s: Why Minerva aligns herself with three particular gods - Amaterasu, Amon-Ra, and Susanoo. All eleven still lived by the end - so why does she stay with three? Because if all things go wrong, she will take their heads for the ritual. It turns out that the crone was able to take the Morrigan's (as he was alone), the maiden was able to take Set's, and the Maiden took Susanoo's when they all committed suicide together. Similarly, this explains why, at the very very beginning of the series, Ananke was crying and said "And once more we return". She thought that the ritual would fail and that neither of them would be able to take a head - since Set killed Lucifer, the Norns were vaporised (whilst one was stomped to death, thus Ananke couldn't take one of their heads), Dionysus was cut up, Baal was smashed, Woden was vaporised, and Neptune was drowned.
Why was Lucifer still herself in 1373 despite living past the two years? Notice that in the original Pantheon, they all lived to adulthood and even old age. This is also because the power of being a god burns you out in two years.The cycle ends when they realise that they are notGods. Lucifer of this era did not see herself as a god - thus as shown by the original Pantheon? She could easily have just kept on living.
So what does this mean for 455 AD Lucifer? He still saw himself as divine: Julius Caesar. Thus? He burnt out.
In 1831, all the fates of the gods are known... except for the Angel of Soho and Perun. Meaning their heads were likely used for the ritual. Inanna's head is possibly the last, but she might be like the last two Wodens: Empowered by a Mimir. Perhaps even Hades's head was used for the ritual instead - so Ananke simply came in as clean-up, not needing to take any heads.
Woden is revealed to be David Blake. Given that it's heavily implied (if not outright stated, if Lucifer is to be believed) that Woden has had sex with his Valkyries. Just how old are these Valkyries? As if you needed another reason to hate Woden.
At least he might get some karma, if he was to be believed about doing cocaine. Sure, people like Lucifer with a two-year timespan might think it's okay, but David doesn't have this lifespan. Good going.
More generally, everything about Woden becomes even more repulsive when you learn he's not a young adult with a mutilated face fated to die in two years; he's a grown man and academic who thinks he's entitled to what he's stolen.
Apparently when Ananke made peoples' heads blow up, she just teleports their heads to some kind of underground cavern. Where they are still able to talk and are aware.
In issue #35, the 1923 Ananke raises the concern that while her memories go into the new Minerva, she's still dead. If she's right — and there's a good philosophical case she might be — then the deaths and atrocities that Anake caused for her immortality were not just horrific, but All for Nothing. The real Ananke died millennia ago, with the cycle doing nothing but creating copies of copies.
