Hades

Template:Infobox gods "Welcome, Spartan! Come in! Make yourself at home. This time, you won't be leaving." - Hades

Hades is the God of the Underworld and husband to Persephone. He holds power over the dead and manipulation over the souls of the living. Being one of the most prominent gods, he is also one of the more powerful.

Greek Mythology

Hades in Homer referred just to the God; the genitive, Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative, too, came to designate the abode of the dead.

In Greek mythology, Hades is the oldest male child of Cronos and Rhea. According to myth, Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans, claimed rulership over the universe, including the underworld, air, and sea, respectively; the solid earth, long the province of Gaia, was available to all three concurrently. Because of his association with the underworld, Hades is often interpreted by moderns as the Grim Reaper.

The Romans referred to Hades as Pluto, from his Greek epithet, meaning "wealth". In Roman mythology, Pluto was called Dis Pater and Orcus. The corresponding Etruscan God was Aita. Symbols associated with him are the Helm of Darkness and the three-headed hound, Cerberus.

In Christian theology, the term "Hades" refers to the abode of the dead. This is parallel to the Hebrew Sheol (שאול, grave or dirt-pit) and the English Hell (Old English, hel), which was derived from Norse mythology for the land of the dead.

God of War series

File:Hades Vs Kratos.jpg

Hades battling Kratos

Persephone's Betrayal

In Chains of Olympus, one of the final challenges is called The Challenge of Hades. Hades himself does not appear, although Kratos does enter his realm of dead, the Underworld. Hades does, however, play a background role, as husband to Persephone, the main antagonist of the game. Persephone doesn't love him, but is forced to remain in his dark realm. Because of this, she had chosen to end both her life and that of the gods by freeing Atlas and commanding him to destroy the Pillar of the World.

Aiding Kratos

In God of War, he manifests in Pandora's Temple in a translucent form, like the other gods, and gives Kratos a magic called the Army of Hades. Only his fiery, demonic face is seen. There is also a giant statue of him in the section of the Temple called The Challenge of Hades, as well as another statue of Hades alongside Zeus and Poseidon in Pandora's Box's Elevator.

Wager of the Gods

In the comics, Hades is seen in flashbacks competing in the wager of the Gods, a contest in which Gods choose various mortals as their champions, with the goal being the capture of the healing elixir known as Ambrosia. Hades chose Alrik, a warrior who sought to capture the Ambrosia in order to save his ill father, as his champion. After which, in fear that Kratos may best his champion, Hades sent a torrent of great fires from the sky onto Kratos' army. However, he was still unable to kill Kratos. After Alrik was defeated by Kratos and torn apart by Rocs, Hades revived him and sent him to destroy the Spartan who defied him. After being saved from death, Alrik then discovered that his beloved father had died, and so, the new Barbarian King vowed to exact vengeance onto Kratos.

Moving in Shadows

While Hades doesn't appear in Betrayal, he is, again, a background character. When Kratos starts chasing the mysterious Assassin, the Undead Legionnaires and Cerberus appear from Underworld to stop him. Kratos wondered why Hades sent these beasts to attack him, speculating that Hades is the one who is plotting to ruin Kratos' relationship with the other gods. This would have made sense, since Hades already had a legitimate reason to hate Kratos for the death of his wife Persephone.

The First Titanomachy

Hades appears in cut scenes in God of War II, depicting the Great War, when the Gods defeated Titans. He is seen fighting and imprisoning Atlas alongside his brother, Poseidon. There is a statue of him in the Garden of the Gods along with Athena, Ares, Zeus, Helios, and Poseidon. At the end of the game he is seen with Poseidon, Helios and Hermes standing in front of Zeus, before the second Great War begins. Also when he's fighting Cronos, Atlas comes and uses a ground attack on Hades. Then Hades manages to take Atlas's soul within him.

The Second Titanomachy

"I knew you would be back Spartan. Did you miss me?" - Hades

Hades is first seen amongst the congregation of Gods on Mt. Olympus, dropping down to join Hermes and Helios in battle against the Titans scaling the mountain. He is briefly seen dislodging Oceanus from the mountain after Kratos disabled one of the Leviathans attacking Gaia.

Kratos encounters Hades personally in the Underworld, who seeks to prevent him from escaping again. After first entering, Hades periodically comments Kratos' actions, often in a sarcastic, humorous or taunting tone of voice. As soon as Kratos enters his Palace, Hades takes a more hostile stand, claiming he senses "some bad blood" between them. Before the battle, Hades reminds Kratos how he has wronged him in the past, by killing Poseidon, Athena, and especially Persephone. Hades then threatens to make Kratos "suffer as he has suffered".

Emerging from complete darkness, Hades immediately attempts to steal Kratos' soul, but fails. An intense battle ensues, during which Kratos and Hades do battle with their respective chain blades. Eventually, the blades become entangled, and Hades attempted to pull Kratos into the River Styx. Eventually, Kratos gains the upper hand and uses both weapons to form a noose around Hades' neck, repeatedly slamming his head into the ceiling and knocking him into the River Styx. From this, Kratos obtains the Claws of Hades. Eventually, a significantly bigger Hades bursts out of the river, no longer sporting his helmet, revealing a deformed, devilish, cracked skull.

Death of Hades.

Kratos finally manages to kill Hades by ripping out his soul, using his own Claws, and further cracking open his deformed skull, revealing his brain. As Hades' rule of the Underworld lifts, the tormented souls of the Styx swarm over Hades, dragging him into the depths of the river. Kratos, in possession of Hades' soul, is now free to traverse the River Styx unharmed. After diving into the river, the godly possession, Hades' helmet, can be retrieved at the bottom, near the point of entry. It then becomes available during Bonus Play. Before leaving, Hades' corpse can be seen at the bottom of the Styx, mutilated, as the tormented souls tore a passage through his gut to escape the river. Swimming through Hades' now open torso, Kratos follows them and returns to Hephaestus' forge.

Powers and Abilities

Like all gods, Hades was immortal and invincible to certain forms of attacks. Hades could also shapeshift, which he demonstrated during his battle with Kratos, as he increased his size throughout the battle. As a god, Hades has super strength.

As the ruler of the Underworld, Hades had a good deal of control over the souls of the dead, to the degree where he was able to gift them to worthy mortals. While Kratos traversed the dangers of Pandora’s Temple, Hades gifted him with the souls of the Underworld to aid him in his journey. These souls literally mauled Kratos’ enemies to death, or weakened them enough for him to finish them off.

Hades also carried the Claws of Hades, duel hook-ended chain-blades with the power of tearing the souls from any living being, including a Titan. By absorbing souls, they allow Hades to become stronger, something he even references whilst battling Kratos, as he taunts him by stating his soul will only make him stronger. Additionally, Hades could summon skulls or beast's souls, and summon up spikes and chains to cover an incredibly large area. Free from certain limitations from his helmet, Hades could also use a powerful breath attack.

Personality

"I will see you suffer as I have suffered. Your soul is MINE!!!" - Hades

Unlike his brother Zeus and many of the other Gods of the series, Hades is mostly unconcerned with the affairs of the mortal realm, preferring to focus his energies on the Underworld. He is, however, quick to anger if someone crosses him or his family, which makes him an enemy of Kratos. As Kratos is traveling through his palace, Hades comments that there is bad blood between them, as Kratos had murdered his niece (Athena) and his brother (Poseidon), which can not go unpunished. He also appeared to have deeply cared for Persephone, despite her words and treachery. Indeed, he has restored her remains and created a massive memorial to her. He doesn't, however, comment on the loss of his nephew Ares, indicating that Hades, much like the other gods, did not care much for Ares.

Hades has a sinister, mock-playful humor, evident in the way he taunts and intimidates Kratos throughout the Underworld. This is similar to the mythological Hades, who often gave out ironic punishments to particularly unfortunate souls. He also appears to be a masochist, as even when Kratos beats him senseless, he claims to enjoy the pain.

Gifts and Objects

• Army of Hades: Given to Kratos after defeating Pandora's Guardian.
• Shield of Hades: Used in Pandora's Temple, with the Shield of Zeus, to progress further into the temple.
• Claws of Hades: After Kratos bashes Hades' head through the ceiling, he takes away his claws, using them to extract his soul and exacting his revenge.
• Hades' Helm: Swimming down the river of Styx to the very bottom at point of entry, and retrieving the Helm, will grant use of this Godly Possession in Bonus Play.

Trivia

• The most likely reason Hades changed appearance drastically from God of War 1 to God of War 2 is that the game developers had not expected the series to be such a success, and may have originally planned to end the series with the first game. When fleshing out the entire storyline, they most likely wanted to give each God a look and personality unique to the God of War series, compared to the rather uninspired designs in God of War 1.
• Modern adaptations of Hades tend to portray him as corrupt, greedy, or evil, similar to the underworld gods of other mythologies or the Judeo-Christian Satan. In Greek mythology, however, Hades was not inherently evil, but was merely gained the unpopular position of being lord of the dead after drawing lots with his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. Over time, however, living in the underworld made a recluse out of him, and ancient myths do not count him among the Twelve Olympians, as Hades spent most of his time away from Olympus tending to the dead. He was also portrayed as very strict, especially when it came to letting the living in or the dead out of his kingdom. In the movie Clash of the Titans, Hades is portrayed as antagonistic, wanting revenge against Zeus for the draw and wanting to seize power.
• The Evil from Pandora's box that infected Hades was most likely Hate; evidenced by his desire to have his revenge on Kratos for killing his family members.
• The same statue of Hades, in his demonic visage in God of War I, appears in God of War III whilst Kratos is in the Underworld, and in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, in the Hades arena setting.
• In God of War II, Hades has a pale skin tone but in God of War III, he has blood colored skin.
• Many confuse Hades with Thanatos, the personification of Death. Hades was the ruler and judge of the dead, but not the god of death itself.
• Hades was one of the few gods to remain faithful to their spouse. He, in fact, wonPersephone over with gifts after having abducted her. She was only abducted as Demeter, her mother, did not agree to the marriage.
• Hades's grotesque appearence could be attributed to the fact that, as the eldest of his brothers, Hades spent the longest amount of time in Cronos' stomach, in which case the mutilations could very well be severe acid burns or simply due to the fact that the he's spent his entire time in the Underworld, since Poseidon was not badly burned for also being trapped in their father's belly, not to mention their sisters were not affected either.
• Notably, despite his design change, in God of War III, several statues of him use the model from the first game.
• Hades is smaller in God of War II, but in God of War III, he is much larger.
• During the fight in God of War III, Hades uses an attack similar to what Persephone did in Chains of Olympus, where they would conjure items from the ground; the only difference is that Persephone summoned light while Hades summoned chains.
• Hades has what appears to be a small face on his right cheek.
• In God of War III, Hades, along with his sister Hera, are the only gods killed by Kratos without the Rage of Sparta soundtrack playing in the background.

Gallery

• Hades trying to grab Kratos' soul
• Hades stealing Atlas' soul
• Hades stealing Atlas' soul
• Kratos stealing Hades' soul
• Hades as seen in the comics

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Video

thumb|left|200px|Kratos vs. Hades

Related Pages

• Underworld
• Persephone
• Claws of Hades
• Army of Hades
• Statue of Hades
• Hades' Helm