Hades

**Hades** is the king of the Underworld and the Greek God of the dead and riches. He is the eldest of the Big Three, the firstborn son of Kronos and Rhea, and the husband and uncle of Persephone. His Roman counterpart is **Pluto**.

## History

### Birth and Rescue

Hades was the eldest male and the fourth child of Kronos, the Titan King of Mount Othrys, and his sister-wife Rhea, born after his sisters Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. Since he was their firstborn son, Rhea had hoped that Hades would not get swallowed, since she believed that Kronos would enjoy raising a son and heir to his throne. However, since Hades was a god (a member of a more beautiful and powerful race of immortals than the Titans), Kronos feared that Hades would one day overpower him and quickly proceeded to swallow him whole as well. Hades, thus, spent his childhood undigested in his father's stomach along with his sisters, and younger brother Poseidon, who was swallowed shortly thereafter. As a result, Kronos became known as "King Cannibal." Rhea pleaded with Kronos to spare their children but with no success, since even Kronos' great love for Rhea was not enough to overpower his selfish and evil nature. However, Rhea soon gave birth to her final child, Zeus, whom she secretly raised on Crete, far away from Mount Othrys.

After growing up, Zeus successfully infiltrated Kronos' Palace on Mount Othrys as the Titan King's royal cup bearer. Hades was finally released during the final drinking competition that Kronos had with his Titanic brothers and nephews. Zeus poured powerful knockout potions for the other titans and an extremely powerful emetic (made from nectar mixed with mustard) into Kronos' goblet, which caused the Titan King to disgorge all of the contents inside his stomach, in reverse order of swallowing: first the boulder (which Kronos had swallowed instead of Zeus), then Poseidon, followed by Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. All five of them had been growing undigested in Kronos' stomach, being immortal gods.

Zeus quickly introduced himself to his elder siblings, and all of them promptly escaped Mount Othrys, before their Titan uncles and cousins came to their senses. In Zeus' Cave, at the base of Mount Ida, Hades happily reunited with his beloved mother Rhea, who tearfully embraced him. Shortly thereafter, Hades and the other gods accepted Zeus as their leader, and reached an unanimous consensus on declaring war against their tyrannical father. However, since the Titans were well-armed and the gods still had no weapons, Hades agreed to help Zeus release their Elder Cyclops and Hekatonkheire uncles from Tartarus first to help them against the Titans. For some reason, Hades seemed quite happy at the prospect of venturing into the darkest and most horrifying realm of the universe.

### Rescuing the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires

Hades was very skilled in navigating under the earth, and was able to lead his brothers and sisters straight into Tartarus through a complex network of Underworld tunnels. There, imprisoned in the maximum-security zone, surrounded by huge bronze walls and a lava moat guarded by fierce demons, were the Elder Cyclopes and Hekaonkheires. Their guardian, Kampê, was the most ferocious and fearsome monster in all of Tartarus, and even Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon initially shuddered with horror when they saw the infernal monster for the first time. However, the gods overcame their fear and were able to sneak in. Zeus managed to talk to the Cyclopes Brontes and convinced him to forge powerful weapons for him and his siblings behind Kampê's back. The three Elder Cyclopes forged three incredibly powerful weapons: the Master Bolt (for Zeus), the Trident (for Poseidon), and the Helm of Darkness (for Hades). Hades seemed particularly pleased with the Helm's power of generating intense and ineffable terror. Indeed, the Helm's terrifying aura was powerful enough for Hades to scare even Zeus and Poseidon simultaneously, to the point that both of them paled and started to sweat with fear.

With these new weapons, Zeus killed Kampê, and Poseidon shattered the chains of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, releasing them. Afterwards, Hades safely guided his siblings and uncles back out of Tartarus. In return, for their release, all six of Hades' uncles agreed to fight on the gods' side in the upcoming war with the Titans.

### The First Titanomachy

Shortly after their return from Tartarus, Hades and his siblings officially declared war on Kronos and the other Titans, which resulted in the grueling 11-year-long Titanomachy. The Titans initially had the upper hand in their battles, since they were much more experienced warriors. However, as the years of the War passed, the gods quickly became skilled and experienced warriors as well, and with the help of their new extremely powerful weapons which they mastered the use of, as well as the aid of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, the gods finally prevailed. Hades himself proved to be a very dangerous and ferocious warrior and greatly contributed to the ultimate downfall of Kronos and his allies. He was greatly feared among all of the Titans due to his terrifying Helm.

While preparing for the final battle of the War, Hades and his siblings ascended to Mount Olympus (the tallest mountain in Greece after Mount Othrys). During the final battle, Zeus used his Master Bolt to shear off the top of Mount Othrys, and hurl Kronos from his Black Throne, defeating the Titan King. Shortly thereafter, the gods invaded the ruins of Mount Othrys, and finally overwhelmed the remaining Titans Atlas, Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Elder Cyclopes chained up all of the defeated Titans, while the Hekatonkheires forced them to kneel before Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon. Zeus took his father's Scythe, and sliced Kronos into a thousand pieces, before casting him into Tartarus, along with the rest of his followers (except for General Atlas, who was forced to hold the Sky since the sky would fall and destroy everything if the Titans of the East, West, North and South were).

### Gaining the Underworld

The gods chose Mount Olympus, the tallest mountain in Greece after Mount Othrys, as their official residence, and the Elder Cyclopes built magnificent palaces there for them all. As a result, the gods started to call themselves the Olympians. Shortly thereafter, Hades had a private meeting with his younger brothers Poseidon and Zeus, and the three mighty sons of Kronos agreed to divide the world between themselves. Although it was Hades' birthright (as Kronos' firstborn son) to be named his father's successor, he agreed to divide the Titan King's former domain with his brothers. Hades received the Underworld, Poseidon seized the seas and oceans, and Zeus claimed the heavens as his domain. Shortly after this division, the three mighty sons of Kronos came to be known as "The Big Three." However, Zeus' authority was recognized as superior to that of his brothers, and Zeus became the King of Mount Olympus and the Olympians.

Unfortunately for Hades, he was greatly feared by all of his siblings, nephews, and nieces, and hence, he was hardly ever invited to Olympus (except for the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year). However, by gaining the Underworld, Hades also gained divine authority over all of the precious metals and jewels under the earth, becoming far richer than any of the other Olympians. Hades was so feared by mortals and demigods that they rarely even used his name, and instead referred to Hades as either "The Rich One", "The Silent One", and/or "The Hospitable One".

### Kidnapping Persephone

Although Hades was distanced from his Olympian family, he was lonely and very much wanted a wife to fill the void. One day, he spotted a young goddess named Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, whose incredible beauty and tender countenance won his admiration. Hades began to fall madly in love with the young goddess. He would carry portraits of her in his pockets, carve her name into his obsidian breakfast table, have long imaginary conversations with her, and even secretly spy on her while wearing his Helm of Darkness. Hades fell so deeply in love with Persephone, that for the first time ever, he became sloppy in his duties as Lord of the Dead. Hades wished to take her as his bride despite his estrangement with her parents (and his siblings), Demeter and Zeus. He knew that Persephone's overprotective mother would refuse to even consider the marriage, so decided to speak with her father instead.

Shortly thereafter, Hades mustered up enough courage to visit Olympus, and begged Zeus, Persephone's father, to allow him to marry her. Zeus happened to be in a good mood at the time and advised his lovesick brother to kidnap Persephone, even going so far as to help him by growing several fields of magnificent flowers. Hence, Hades succeeded in kidnapping his beloved Persephone, but she did not want to stay with him, and wished to be rescued. Over time though, she came to admire Hades' power and wealth, and gradually fell in love with him, relieved to finally be free from her mother Demeter's bossiness, nagging, and smothering for a time. Hades was very kind, patient, and he didn't ever nag, boss, or smother Persephone. He very much wanted her to reciprocate his great love, and tried to buy her affections with many magnificent gifts at first, but then took to spending all of his day with her, desperately trying to make her happy. Hades even hired the most skilled deceased gardeners in the Underworld (lead by Askalaphos) to grow a magnificent garden for Persephone, full of her favorite trees and flowers. Hence, it was Hades' empathy and kindness which eventually won Persephone's heart.

Meanwhile, a distraught and grief-stricken Demeter soon caused the earth to become barren and infertile when she learned of the abduction, and furiously blamed Zeus for allowing Hades to court Persephone behind her back. Pressured by mortal prayers and the other Olympians, Zeus finally demanded that the Lord of the Dead return his daughter, and sent Hermes to deliver the message. Hades was devastated at the prospect of losing his newfound wife, but was forced to submit to the will of Zeus. However, while Hermes delivered the message, Hades' gardener Askalaphos tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds, so she had to stay with Hades for six months of the year. This came at a cost, as Demeter never could accept that her daughter had married Hades, and left "her poor mother". Demeter's nagging increased with this action, but Persephone got to stay with her husband this way.

### Leuke, Minthe, and Adonis

While Hades did very much love his wife Persephone, he was quite lonely during the time she spent with Demeter, which is when he would have affairs, which, however, usually ended badly. For instance, when Hades fell in love with the beautiful Oceanid Leuke, he brought her to the Underworld. However, fearing a jealous Persephone eventually discovering this, Hades decided to turn Leuke into a poplar tree, to keep her with him without his wife knowing. Later, when a beautiful nymph, Minthe (a naiad of the River Cocytus), bragged about Hades' passionate love for her and claimed to, therefore, be more beautiful than Persephone, the jealous and infuriated goddess instantly appeared before her, and transformed her into the plant mint.

Persephone, on her part remained very loyal to her husband and only cheated on him once, with Adonis, the handsomest mortal man in the world. Adonis would only spent a third of each year with her (spending the rest with Aphrodite), and would have to hide in closets and under her bed every time Hades entered her chambers, since Persephone was desperate to hide her lover from her irascible husband. Shortly thereafter, however, Adonis was stabbed to death by Ares' wild boar, much to Persephone's dismay. This would remain the one and only time that she ever cheated on Hades.

### Sisyphus

King Sisyphus of Corinth, not wanting to die, managed to cheat death by immobilizing Thanatos with heavy chains and placing the latter under his royal bed. As a result, with Death itself imprisoned, mortals were unable to die, much to the dismay of Ares, who relished military carnage. As a result, the war god promptly found Thanatos and freed him, after which both gods incinerated Sisyphus. The king's soul was deemed worthy of an audience with Hades himself. Before Sisyphus died, he told his wife, Merope, not to bury him, so when he was brought down to the Underworld, he defended his right to a proper funeral. Hades let him go, so Sisyphus could scold Merope for not giving him a proper funeral. Thus, Sisyphus would become the only mortal man to have ever tricked the Lord of the Dead, since he, of course had no intention of ever returning to Hades, and instead re-assembled the remains of his body back together, and lived on quietly for several years. Eventually, however, Hades was reminded of the treacherous king, and had him dragged back to the Underworld by Hermes.

Hence, in order to keep Sisyphus too occupied to scheme again, Hades took him to the Fields of Punishment and ordered him to roll a huge boulder up a hill as his punishment, letting Sisyphus know that he would be set free as soon as the boulder reached the summit. Sisyphus tried, but it would imminently fall back when he got close to the top of the hill. He would try again, and again, and again forever, always in vain. This represented the punishment of Sisyphus, with him being doomed to an eternity of frustration.

### Asclepius

Asclepius was the favorite demigod son of Apollo, who eventually became the greatest healer in the world. In fact, Asclepius became even more skilled in medicine than his father Apollo, most likely because he devoted all of his time to it. With the help of Gorgon Blood (given to him by Athena), Asclepius could cure any illness, heal any injury, and even make the Physician's Cure that could resurrect the dead. This, upon hearing of the death of her dear friend Hippolytus, the goddess Artemis requested that Asclepius revive him from the dead with the cure, which he was more than happy to do.

This, however, infuriated Hades, so he stormed up to Mount Olympus, demanding that Asclepius pay the price for transgressing and openly mocking the natural laws of life and death. Zeus appeased his furious brother by personally striking down Asclepius with a thunderbolt.

Apollo was angered and devastated by his favorite son's death, and killed one of the younger Cyclopes who forged Zeus' thunderbolts in retaliation and this resulted in Zeus making Apollo mortal and forcing him to serve a king for a whole year. To prevent more feuds, Asclepius was resurrected and made into a god, but Hades forbid him from ever resurrecting the dead again.

### Orpheus

The famous demigod musician Orpheus, devastated by the untimely death of his wife Eurydice, creates a new entrance to the Underworld with his beautiful music and singing. He made his way all the way to Hades' palace, with ghosts, Charon, Cerberus, and even the furies themselves being brought to tears by his ineffably lachrymose and beautiful music. Even Hades himself shed a few tears, feeling as though Orpheus had distilled Hades' life, with all its grief and disappointment, all its darkness and solitude, and turned it into music.

Impressed by the man's love, bravery and skill, Hades and Persephone allowed him to take Eurydice back, on the condition that he would walk in front and not look behind him as he led her back to the upper world along the borderland between the living and the dead. However, Orpheus could not resist the temptation the moment he crossed the border, and looked back just before his wife left the Underworld, losing her forever.

### The Twelfth Labor of Hercules

For Hercules' last labor, he was ordered by King Eurystheus to bring back Hades' mighty and ferocious pet dog Cerberus as proof of his strength and fearlessness. Hercules eventually found the entrance to the Underworld and entered, but rather than attack Cerberus on sight, Hercules, who had heard many stories of Hades and how the Lord of the Dead treated intruders, ignored the infernal monster (who let him pass) and continued straight onward to Hades' Palace.

Hera's plan to pit Hercules against a furious Hades backfired, when the hero humbly knelt before the terrifying Lord of the Dead, and asked permission to take Cerberus. Hades was impressed by Hercules, who until then had an infamous reputation for acting without thinking, and while all heroes who had previously entered the Underworld did so to win fame, Hercules was the first to place respect for Hades above his own ambitions. Hades was so impressed with this, that he granted the demigod permission to take Cerberus on a few conditions. The first was that Hercules could not seriously injure Cerberus, and thus, could not use his weapons against him. The second condition was that Hercules had to bring Cerberus back as soon as the labour was completed. The third and final condition, was that the hero had to tell Hades who had asked him to bring back Cerberus as a trophy. Hercules promptly agreed to all of the terms, and told Hades, that it was King Eurystheus that had asked the labor of him.

Thus, placing aside his mighty club and deadly Hydra arrows, Hercules returned to Cerberus to wrestle the beast barehanded. Cerberus was tremendously strong and fierce, his three heads biting and snarling rapidly. The combatants seemed evenly matched, and fought so fiercely that earth cracked beneath them and walls shook. In the end, however, Hercules managed to headlock and slowly drag Cerberus out of the Underworld, back to King Eurystheus. The king was terrified when Hercules returned, as he had not expected Hercules to return from what he believed to be a suicide mission, and ordered the hero to get the beast out of his kingdom.

As he had promised Hades, Hercules escorted Cerberus all the way back to the Underworld. In retaliation however, Hades appeared before King Eurystheus while Hercules was dragging Cerberus back. The furious Lord of the Dead demanded to know why King Eurystheus had dared to send someone into his realm to take his beloved pet as a trophy. Eurystheus collapsed in fear and begged Hades to spare him, revealing to Hades that he received orders for all of Hercules' labors from Hera herself who was trying to send Hercules to his death. As a result, Hades paid a visit to Hera, and made it clear to her that there would be direct consequences for her if she would ever send Hercules or another hero on any such errand again.

## Appearance

Hades is described as a very tall, imposing and very muscular god with albino white skin (due to the little time he spent in the sunlight), intense black eyes that "glitter like frozen tar", and were either the eyes of a genius or a madman, and having a mesmerizing, evil charisma, and shoulder-length black hair, with bangs usually covering most of his forehead. According to Persephone in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, when Hades is passionate, his black eyes "flare with purple fire."

His voice is also described as oily. In *The Demigod Files*, he is described as having a beard. Hades often wears black flowing robes with evil souls threaded into the cloth. While kidnapping Persephone, Hades wore Stygian Iron gloves, and was described as "demonic looking." In battle, Hades rides on a huge gold-and-black chariot pulled by fearsome dark shadowy mighty horses (their eyes and manes "smoldering with fire"), and wears imposing black Stygian Iron armor with a blood-red cape and his terrifying Helm (elaborately engraved with images of death and torture). He arms himself with both his black Stygian Iron Bident and his mighty sword. He is also known to wear two rings: a silver skull one (that he later gives to Nico), and an opal one (his wedding ring from Persephone). In *The Blood of Olympus*, when appearing to Nico in Portugal, Hades is dressed in the habit of a Franciscan monk, which Nico finds vaguely disturbing. Hades' black robes are tied at the waist with a white cord. His cowl is pushed back, revealing dark hair shorn close to the scalp.

It is said, "At ten feet tall, Hades, Greek god of the dead and ruler of the Underworld and underground riches..." This tells that Hades's height is about ten feet. But since gods can be in whatever size they want, it is assumed that Hades usually likes to be ten feet tall, though he could be larger or shorter.

## Personality

Hades is an extremely solitary and independent god, choosing to rely on his own resources as opposed to that of others. He is intensely bitter for the negative things that have happened throughout his life: the most prominent of these is the fact that in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, he was left to rule the Underworld himself, and did not have a throne on Mount Olympus, where he was feared and despised by most of his siblings, nephews, and nieces. On top of that, Hades' children are not accepted in their lives, and are cast out by others of their kind - they originally didn't even have a Cabin at Camp Half-Blood.

He maintains a casually calm, reserved manner but is capable of a violent and terrifying temper, shown by his reaction to Zeus killing Maria di Angelo in *The Last Olympian*. He first vows to destroy Zeus for this and then, when confronted by the Oracle, he, in act of vengeful devastation and rage, curses her with the inability to transfer to another body after her death until his children gain acceptance and respect. Also, when he discovered that Zeus had produced a demigod child - Thalia Grace - he unleashed his most powerful and fearsome beasts from the Underworld to kill her; his rage was not unjustified, though his expression thereof may have been, as he had suffered worse than most from Zeus' hypocrisy and conceit.

Hades is noted to be a particularly honorable and just as well as a harsh god. He respects oaths and the laws of morality, particularly when tempted to resurrect Maria di Angelo after Zeus kills her. Hades has never killed a mortal before attempting to kill Thalia. This is most obvious in that he never broke the oath concerning the birth of demigod children of the Big Three, as well as when he allowed Sally Jackson to return to the mortal realm after his Helm of Darkness was recovered, something he was not bound to do.

Hades' respect for the law and his code of conduct is evident as he's the supreme judge of the dead souls and of all creatures that traverse to the Underworld. As shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades made it his goal to bring living sinners to justice as well, and would dispatch the Furies to drive them to madness, until they were ether killed, or made amends for their misdeeds. Hence, while confronting Bryce Lawrence in *The Blood of Olympus*, Nico makes it clear to the former that his father is infuriated by those who've managed to escape just punishment for their crimes.

Hades is also noted to be a very hardworking and busy god, rather unlike many of the other gods who take their duties and responsibilities in a much lighter manner, such as Dionysus and Apollo. Hades is also extremely intelligent (and certainly the smartest of his siblings), shown by his incredible ability to invent new and original (and often the perfect definition of poetic justice) punishments for sinners in the Fields of Punishment on the spot. Good examples of such punishments include those of Sisyphus and Tantalus. In spite of his intelligence, however, Hades was initially inept at courting women, and was forced to seek Zeus' advice on how to properly woo Persephone. That said, Hades's intelligence made him a brilliant strategist and tactical thinker, and he is extremely difficult to outwit in a debate, argument or battle of wits.

Despite his honorable habits, there is a cruel and darker side to Hades. Although he was the one to make a compromise with Demeter, he was indeed the one to initially trick Persephone into staying in the Underworld (though he did it because he was deeply in love and searching for a wife). Hades also carries grudges for an extremely long time, a trait he passes onto all of his children. His cruel traits mirror that of his father Kronos in terms of cunning, ruthlessness, and deviousness. Hades, however is not evil like his father, but rather distant and bitter due to past tragedies which leads him to behave the way he does, though Hades does his best not to show it. As seen in *Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes*, Hades was so touched by Orpheus' music mainly because it made him feel as though the great musician had distilled Hades' life, with all its grief and disappointment, all its darkness and solitude, and turned it into ineffably beautiful music.

Hades' bitterness does begin to change after the events in *The Last Olympian*, however, as he was accepted because he helped save Olympus. As his daughter Bianca put it in *The Battle of the Labyrinth*, "Holding grudges is dangerous for children of Hades. It is our fatal flaw." This is most obvious when he attempts to kill Thalia when Zeus breaks his vow, something that may have been further provoked by Zeus' attempted murder of his youngest children in World War II, ultimately resulting in the death of his beloved Maria di Angelo; it should be noted that he did not have the same murderous intent in regards to Percy, despite similarly being the result of the broken vow as a son of Poseidon (probably because he has no grudges against Poseidon). Though it should be noted that he still greatly disliked Percy for this and was quick to blame him for taking his helm of darkness despite not having any evidence. In *The Last Olympian* while talking to Persephone he mentions that he would have loved to kill him and held back mainly because his son made him promise not to. Also, though he only imprisoned Percy so that his son could be the savior of Olympus, he stated that he was going to check on him in 50-60 years implying that, though he only needed Percy imprisoned for four years, he was planning to keep him indefinitely due to his grudge.

Hades is a harsh father and is often demanding and critical of Nico, whom he constantly compares to Bianca, and rarely shows Nico that he does in fact care for and love him. After the Battle of Manhattan in *The Last Olympian*, though, Hades finally views his son with pride and respect, and later admits that Nico had brought his house honor then. As a result, Hades begins trusting Nico with much more information, and even tells him about Camp Jupiter and the Roman demigods, trusting Nico not to share this knowledge with anybody else until the time is right. Hades might have foreseen that Nico was destined to find the Doors of Death and lead the Seven Heroes of Olympus there. In *The Blood of Olympus*, it is implied that Hades has deduced Nico's secret homosexual crush on Percy, but that he is willing to love and support his gay son regardless, since Hades tells Nico that he wants his son to be happy first and foremost, in a tone that is "almost gentle."

His lover, Maria di Angelo, stated that Hades was a kind and generous man, hinting that there may be a softer side to him. Maria even speculated that if the other Olympians saw it as well, they would not spurn and fear the Lord of the Underworld nearly as much. Hades' darker side stems from the bitterness he feels at being spurned and feared by his fellow Olympians, which in turn leads to his habit of holding grudges. However, as of *The Last Olympian*, this has changed, since Hades helped save Olympus from Kronos, and was finally welcomed by the other gods with open arms and given a throne on Olympus. Hence, in *The Blood of Olympus*, Hades helps the other Olympians and the Seven in the final battle with the giants, this time without hesitation.

It is hinted in the *The Hidden Oracle* that Hades has a twisted sense of humor, since Apollo mentioned that Hades sometimes shadow traveled behind him and said "Hi!" in order to startle Apollo so that he would shoot his plague arrows in the wrong direction, thus infecting the wrong city, because Hades would find that funny.

In *The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure*, Persephone tells Will Solace that Hades and Nico are a lot alike and that they both have light and dark and life and death in them. According to Persephone, Hades and Nico both appreciate and understand life more than anyone even if they don't drift towards it which Persephone believes is a trait of a god or a demigod who is so surrounded by death.

Later, Hades reveals that he has become immensely proud of his son and only wishes the best for him. Having been forced to rethink himself by Percy's actions, Hades had second thoughts about sending his son to rescue Bob the Titan when he saw that it put Will into danger, thus risking Nico losing another person that he loved. After the successful rescue, Hades arranged for Nico to have a dream meeting with Maria and Bianca to gain closure and openly expressed his pride in his son.

## Pluto

Hades can change into his Roman counterpart of Pluto. As Pluto, he has a more relaxed demeanor than his Greek aspect that tempers his more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike nature. He also apparently dresses in modern and simple attire with a dark suit, a platinum black tie, and a gray undershirt. Pluto has a more distant relationship with his one daughter Hazel and no descendants at Camp Jupiter near San Francisco. Hades was envisioned by the Greeks as a fearsome and powerful being while the Romans believed that Pluto was less associated with death and more associated with riches. Both associate him with the Underworld.

## Abilities

As one of the Big Three, Hades has the ultimate powers a god can possess. They are rivalled only by those of his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, although Zeus has always believed that he is above his brothers in raw power. Indeed, Hades is so powerful, that when Percy first meets him in *The Lightning Thief*, he begins to feel very submissive right away, and has to fight the urge to follow Hades' every order, as well as a strong desire to curl up and sleep at Hades' feet. In *The Last Olympian*, Hades plays a key role in overwhelming his father Kronos' huge army.

* **Geokinesis**: As the God of the Underworld, Hades has absolute control over all the earth and stones, as well as the walls of the Underworld, Erebos. He has the same geokinetic abilities as Nico and Hazel, only to a much more infinite level.
	+ **Subterranean Navigation**: In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades is shown to be skilled in navigating under the earth, even before he became the Lord of the Underworld. Hence, Hades was able to lead his siblings in and out of Tartarus itself via a complex network of Underworld tunnels.
	+ **Earthquake Generation**: When Percy infuriates him in *The Lightning Thief*, Hades generates a massive earthquake that shakes his huge throne room, and is felt miles above him, in Los Angeles, devastating the city.
* **Ferrokinesis**: As the God of Wealth, Hades can sense and summon any quantity of precious metals and jewels from under the ground, as well as manipulate them. As a result, Hades is the richest Olympian of all. As seen in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades' palace has several magnificent halls made entirely of pure gold and silver, decorated with bouquets of flowers made of precious metals and jewels. A very impressed Persephone admits to never having seen "such dazzling wealth" even on Mount Olympus itself, since whatever she could destroy in a tantrum, Hades could instantly replace with something even better. In *The Last Olympian*, Hades offered to build a pure golden palace for his lover, Maria di Angelo. Hence, Hades is often referred to as "The Rich One."
* **Magmakinesis** (limited): As Hades controls underground, he has some control over magma and lava.
* **Necromancy**: As the God of the Dead and the Lord of the Underworld, Hades has divine authority and absolute control over the deceased. Hades' nickname "The Hospitable One" is a reference to him always having room in the Underworld for one more soul.
	+ **Power Over the Undead**: Hades can reanimate skeletons, call forth endless waves of the dead to fight for him (with him even threatening to unleash a massive zombie apocalypse in *The Lightning Thief* and *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*), destroy Skeleton Warriors, and put them to sleep. He can also silence dead souls with a gesture, and physically take hold of ghosts.
	+ **Metamorphosis**: Hades can capture and release living souls in a blast of yellow flames, shown when he abducted Sally Jackson in *The Lightning Thief*.
	+ **Death Curses**: Hades is also able to place curses on the living. While he is unable to kill people before the Fates decree its time, he can prevent a person's soul from ever leaving their body, as he did with the Oracle of Delphi. This will mean that a person's body will eventually turn to dust with age, while their soul will be lost forever.
	+ **Death Sense**: As the God of the Dead, Hades can sense when a person is dying and when their soul is being judged in the Underworld.
	+ **Life Sense**: He can sense life auras. This can help him determine how much longer someone has left to live.
	+ **Resurrection**: As the God of the Dead, Hades is capable of resurrecting the dead. In *The Battle of the Labyrinth*, both Nico and King Minos plotted to trade Daedalus' soul to Hades in exchange for him performing a resurrection for them.
* **Osteokinesis**: As the God of the Dead, Hades can summon and telekinetically control numerous bones at once.
* **Cryokinesis** (limited): When the God of the Dead appears before Hazel in *The House of Hades*, he generates an aura of intense cold, which causes "frost to creep across the rocks and grass."
* **Infernal Monster Lordship**: Hades has absolute control over countless ferocious monsters native to his realm, such as Cerberus, the Hellhounds, the Furies, the Keres, the Oneiroi, and various daimons, along with many others. Hence, Hades would send a huge infernal army after Thalia during her journey to camp, and he later summoned his numerous forces to fight those of Kronos in *The Last Olympian*.
* **Umbrakinesis**: As the God of the Underworld, Hades has absolute control over shadows and darkness - the same as his children, but his are tremendously more powerful.
	+ **Darkness Generation**: He can shoot solid bolts of darkness, and surround enemies into pitch black clouds of lightless space.
	+ **Darkness Shields**: He can solidify shadows into virtually impenetrable shields, which are strong enough to deflect even Zeus' thunderbolts.
	+ **Darkness Absorption and Dissipation**: He can absorb and dissipate shadows with his Stygian Iron weapons.
	+ **Imperceptibility**: He can use shadows to cover himself in darkness to become invisible. While wearing his Helm of Darkness, Hades can pass through walls and melt into shadows, not be touched, seen or heard by anyone, even other Olympian gods, Titans, or Giants.
	+ **Shadow Travel**: Hades can use shadows as a way of swift transportation over vast distances. In *The Hidden Oracle*, Apollo mentioned that Hades sometimes shadow travelled behind him and said "Hi!" in order to startle Apollo, so that he would shoot his plague arrows in the wrong direction, thus infecting the wrong city.
* **Dark Infernal Pyrokinesis**: Hades has absolute control over black hellfire, which is considerably more destructive than normal flames, as it turns whatever it touches into liquid. He can conjure it, and propel it from his hands.
* **Hypnokinesis**: In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, it is revealed that Hades has complete mastery over the Oneiroi dream spirits, and he used them to spread the word that all of the dead needed to take a coin with them to gain passage onto Charon's boat. Hades also has the same mastery over sleep powers as his son Nico di Angelo, only immensely increased.
* **Phobikinesis**: Hades has absolute control and divine authority over the power of fear. This ability grows even more powerful with the Helm of Darkness. It is implied in *The Lightning Thief* that Hades, while without his Helm, caused the mathematics teacher at Yancy Academy to experience a nervous breakdown before Alecto arrived.
	+ **Induced Terror**: With his Helm of Darkness, Hades can radiate death and terror to an incredible degree. In *The Last Olympian* Kronos' entire army tried to flee from him in terror, and only Kronos's authority allowed them to somewhat keep their ranks. Even though the Helm's power wasn't directed at him, when Percy looked at it, he still felt as if it was reaching into the darkest corner of his mind and pulling out the things he was most afraid of and his closely guarded secrets, making him want to "crawl into a hole and hide". Grover claims that when utilized at full power, the Helm's aura of ineffable deadly terror is so intense, that it can easily unhinge people's minds and stop their heartbeats, which, according to Grover, is why most rational beings fear the dark. In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades' Helm is shown to be powerful enough to scare even Zeus and Poseidon simultaneously, to the point that both of them paled and started to sweat with fear. Hades used the Helm during the Titanomachy against the Titans directly with great success, often breaking enemy ranks and causing them to flee into traps.
* **Transfiguration**: As shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades was forced to turn the Oceanid Leuke into a poplar tree.
* **Shapeshifting**: As seen in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades is quite skilled at shapeshifting, though he hardly ever utilizes this ability. He has transformed into an eagle (while escaping from Kronos' palace on Mount Othrys) and a bat (while sneaking into Tartarus' maximum-security zone with his siblings).
* **Leadership Abilities**: Hades was able to lead his armies against the monster armies of the Titans and was able to help turn the tide to the Olympians' favor.

## Attributes

Hades' main attributes are his Bident, his terrifying Helm of Darkness, his ferocious 3-headed pet dog, Cerberus, and now his sword (after *The Demigod Files*).

He is mostly seen sitting on his throne in the Underworld, with Cerberus, while wearing his terrifying Helm of Darkness. His other main attributes are the golden Keys of Hades. According to Nico in *The Sword of Hades*, with these keys, Hades can "lock or unlock death" by imprisoning souls in the Underworld or releasing them.

Other attributes of Hades include the Drinking Horn, the Cattle of Hades, the Screech Owl (since its cry is considered a bad omen), the Poplar (in honor of the Oceanid Leuke), the Cypress, and the Narcissus flower.

Hades' most sacred temple and shrine is the Necromanteion (also known as the House of Hades), located in Epirus, Greece, which is open year-round, allowing pilgrims to speak with deceased spirits, seeking their advice. In order to enter the temple, however, a chalice of poison has to be drunk.

## Attendants

Hades has several loyal attendants, including his lieutenant Thanatos, his wife and queen Persephone, the god of sleep Hypnos, his beloved pet dog Cerberus, the three Furies, his daughter Melinoe, and sometimes the goddess Hecate.

## Relationships

### Persephone

As shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, when Hades first saw Persephone, he instantly fell madly in love with her. Hades would carry Persephone's portraits in his pocket, carve Persephone's name into his obsidian breakfast table, have long imaginary conversations with Persephone and secretly spy on Persephone while wearing his Helm of Darkness. In fact, Hades fell so deeply in love with her that he became sloppy in his duties as King of the Underworld for the first time. Shortly thereafter, Hades mustered up the courage to visit Olympus and beg Zeus, Persephone's father, to allow him to marry her, vowing to be an excellent husband for her. Zeus, who happened to be in a good mood at the time, advised his lovesick brother to kidnap Persephone, and helped him (by growing several fields of magnificent flowers). Hence, Hades succeeded in kidnapping his beloved Persephone, but she did not want to stay with him, and wished to be rescued. Over time though, she gradually fell in love with him and was relieved to be free from her mother Demeter's bossiness, nagging, and smothering for a time. He was very kind, patient, and he didn't ever nag, boss, or smother her. He very much desired her to reciprocate his love and tried to buy her affections with many magnificent gifts at first, but then took to spending all of his day with her, desperately trying to make Persephone happy. Hades even hired the most skilled deceased gardeners in the Underworld (lead by Askalaphos) to grow a magnificent garden for Persephone, which was full of her favorite trees and flowers. The Askalaphos later tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds, so she had to stay with Hades for six months of the year. This came at a cost, as Demeter never could accept that her daughter had married Hades, and left *her poor mother*. Demeter's nagging increased with this action, but Persephone got to stay with her husband this way. She loves and respects him very much, calling him "my lord." Hades, on his part, goes so far as to claim that despite him being the god of wealth, Persephone is dearer to him than any precious metals or gems.

Hades greatly loves his wife, but during the time when she is away from him, he does not like to be alone. Hence, Hades seeks out mortal women during this time. Persephone hates hearing of his affairs, and detests his demigod children. Hades is apologetic about his girlfriends with Persephone, but she is still very displeased when they are mentioned. He has the fewest demigod children of the Big Three, not even having any mentioned in the old myths, due to his strong (for a god) devotion to his wife. Hades' marriage to her also means, ironically, that his elder sister Demeter is his mother-in-law, and his youngest brother Zeus is his father-in-law.

### Family

Hades' relationship with his family has always been a little "difficult" due to his duties and his position as the loner in the family, but after the Great Prophecy was set, Hades distances himself even more from his siblings, especially Zeus, whom he develops a grudge against. This is because the prophecy said that a child of the Big Three would either destroy or preserve Olympus and Zeus didn't want to take the chance. So Zeus ordered Hades to hand over any of his children to Camp Half-Blood to be "trained" for their own protection but Hades had a fairly good idea what that meant. His suspicions proved to be true when Zeus demolished the building that Hades, the children (Bianca and Nico) and their mother Maria were in. Hades was barely able to detect the attack and managed to save the children but Maria was killed instantly, something that up until recently Hades never forgave his brother for. It was also the incident that almost destroyed the Oracle of Delphi as it was she who gave the prophecy and it was she Hades focused his rage on, cursing her to be trapped within her current host until it withered to nothing, effectively killing her. The only act of protection Hades could offer his children was to wipe their memories and hide them for their own protection in the Lotus Casino.

Hades possesses a deep-rooted contempt for Zeus - whilst Poseidon has a tolerance of his brother's character, and seems to have a mutual respect for him - and accurately views him as self-righteous, egomaniacal and a vicious hypocrite. His grudge with Zeus in part led to Thalia being turned into a tree after it was discovered she was a child of Zeus, effectively meaning she was a living risk and Zeus had broken an oath on the River Styx. Being a god Zeus got off lightly, but Hades was angered by both this and the death of Maria, and he unleashed all the worst monsters in the Underworld to kill Thalia, leading to her sacrificing herself in order protect Luke Castellan and Annabeth whom she was traveling with, though Zeus managed to keep Thalia from ending up in the Underworld by turning her into a tree as she lay on the hill dying.

Hades' relationship with his other brother Poseidon is not shown (though it is implied that they often disagree in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*), though seeing as though he did not attempt to kill Percy like he did with Thalia, it can be assumed it is healthier than his relationship with Zeus. Initially coming off cold, ruthless and vindictive, Hades is not evil like his father, but rather distant and bitter due to past tragedies which leads him to behave the way he does, though he tries hard not to show it. This does change, however, after the events in *The Last Olympian*, as Hades was finally officially accepted as an Olympian, due to his crucial role in helping save Olympus. During his confrontation with Kronos, Hades even admits that while he argues with his brothers and sisters, he agreed with them that their father was the worst parent.

### Mistresses

Even in mythology, compared to the other gods, Hades is the one deity who came closest to being a faithful husband due to his extremely few infidelities: as seen in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, he had a brief affair with a beautiful nymph named Minthe (the daugther of the naiad of the River Cocytus), but it concluded with an infuriated Persephone transforming her into the plant called mint. He also once fell in love with Leuke, a beautiful Oceanid, but was forced to transform her into a poplar tree due to Persephone's jealousy.

However, there was one mistress whom Hades appeared to cherish as much as he did his own wife: Maria di Angelo. This was so, as not only did he reveal his divine nature to her (something that the gods very rarely, if ever at all, did with their mortal lovers), but he also fathered two children through her: Bianca and Nico. Maria was eventually revealed to be one of the few who always saw Hades' kind and generous side, and she even speculated that if the other Olympians saw it as well, they would not spurn and fear him nearly as much.

When Maria was killed by Zeus, Hades was devastated. Later, the Oracle appeared, telling him that he should not leave Bianca and Nico in the Lotus Hotel just so one of them could be part of the prophecy. In his fury, Hades cursed the Oracle, so that no one else would ever be able to replace her until he and his children were respected and treated as heroes.

### Children

Though he doesn't always show it, Hades seems to feel affection for his children as well, as described by Percy in *The Sword of Hades*: "Hades turned back to Nico di Angelo. His gaze softened just a little, like rock soft rather than steel." That shows he must love Nico, "just a little." According to the list of children of Hades, many of them are of Italian heritage, which would imply that he is mostly interested in Italian women. He seems to favor his daughter Bianca more than Nico, because in *The Last Olympian*, Hades tells Nico that "[his sister] would have done a better job". One of these reasons was most likely the fact that Bianca looks so much like her mother Maria. After the Battle of Manhattan, however, Hades finally views his son with pride and respect. Hades begins trusting Nico with much more information than ever before as a result and even tells him about Camp Jupiter and the Roman demigods, trusting Nico not to share this knowledge with anybody else until the time is right. Hades might have foreseen that Nico was destined to find the Doors of Death and lead the Seven Heroes of Olympus there. In *The Blood of Olympus*, Hades and Nico speak again, in Portugal. Hades tells Nico that some deaths cannot and should not be prevented and that Nico will need to act when the times comes. Nico finally recalls these words when he witnesses Octavian planning to shoot an onager at Gaea, and for the first time, Nico decides to trust the wisdom of his father, and stops Will Solace (who stares at him in disbelief) from trying to prevent Octavian's plan, and subsequently witnesses the augur's horrific fiery demise, along with the death of Leo and destruction of Gaea. Very guilt-ridden about his choice unnecessarily costing Leo his life, Nico prays to his father for guidance. It is implied that Hades has deduced Nico's secret homosexual crush on Percy, but that he is willing to love and support his gay son regardless, since Hades tells Nico that he wants his son to be happy first and foremost, in a tone that is "almost gentle." Hades then touches his son's shoulder, a gesture which Nico finds reassuring, even though the latter doesn't usually like physical contact.

It was also later revealed that Hades once gave Nico a zombie chauffeur since he was attempting to be a little more like normal mortal parents, who normally drive their children to places. Overall, their relationship seems to have improved considerably.

It is hinted throughout the series that during World War II Hades children fought against Zeus and Poseidon's children on the losing side. It is assumed that one of his children was Benito Mussolini; however, although Hazel remarks how much Pluto reminds her of Adolf Hitler upon their first meeting.

In *The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure*, it's revealed that Hades had been the one to send Nico to rescue Bob the Titan. Having been forced to rethink himself and his actions and behaviour by Percy Jackson, Hades arranged for Nico to get his closure with his mother and sister and openly expressed his pride in his son and wish for Nico to find true happiness. He also admitted to being willing to break the rules for Nico from now on.

## Symbol of Power

Hades' symbol of power is the Helm of Darkness, which allows him to become a shadow. This means he can pass through walls and melt into shadows, not be touched, seen or heard, and radiate fear so intense that it can make a person go insane or stop their heart. It allows Hades to enter the corners of a living creature's mind and project terrifying images in addition to showing their worst nightmares.

In *The Sword of Hades*, it is revealed that Persephone forged him a new weapon of power in the form of a sword. The sword has a key of death embedded in its hilt, so the wielder can raise the dead from the deepest corners of Tartarus or send a soul to the Underworld by one touch of the blade. In other stories, Hades has a bident or chains with hooks as weapons.

## Etymology

* ***Hades*** come the greek deprivative α, meaning not, and δης, meaning seen. Hades meand Unseen.

## Trivia

* Hades is also referred to as "The Rich One", "The Silent One", and "The Hospitable One".
* Due to his role as king of the Underworld, he was referred to as *Zeus Katakhthonios* (“[the] Zeus beneath the earth”).
* Hades is the only one of Kronos and Rhea's children not to have been an Olympian initially, something he resented his siblings for. However, this changes in *The Last Olympian*, when he is finally given a proper throne on Olympus.
	+ Interestingly, the Olympians' initial not accepting of Hades mirrors how the planet Pluto (named in the god of the dead's honor) is not considered to be a full-fledged planet.
* Just like Hestia, the oldest of the female first generation Olympians, Hades is not considered an Olympian at the beginning of the series. Though unlike his sister, he had never been considered one at all.
* Hades's mother Rhea is the only one who has always loved him unconditionally.
* Like Kronos, Hades is greatly feared by all of his immortal siblings, nephews, and nieces, all of whom rarely visit him. As a result, one thing that nearly all the other Olympians agreed upon in their massive family feuds, was not to pick a fight with Hades.
	+ However, as of *The Last Olympian*, this has changed, since Hades helped save Olympus from Kronos, and was welcomed with open arms. Hence, in *The Blood of Olympus*, Hades helps the other Olympians and the Seven in the final battle with the Giants without hesitation.
* Hades is Kronos's firstborn son, and thus, the eldest one of the Big Three.
* As the god of wealth, Hades is the richest Olympian of all.
* The dwarf planet, Pluto, is named after Hades's Roman aspect.
* His Roman name Pluto, a Latinized form of the Greek title *Ploútōn* (one of Hades' epithets), means “the Rich One”.
* Hades is considered to be a stern and fair god as well as one of the more passive Olympians in real mythology.
	+ Indeed, the Camp Half-Blood series, unlike several other modern depictions of Hades, is more faithful to his mythological personality. Rather than showing him as a sinister and malevolent demoniac monarch of sorts, like his father Kronos, Hades is more often a neutral character, with a great appreciation for justice and morality.
	+ Ironically, one of the massive issue fans had with the film adaption of *The Lightning Thief* was its portrayal of Hades, as instead of remaining faithful to both the book's version and mythological portrayal of him, it instead followed other modern films' mistake of portraying Hades as a villainous antagonist with similarities to the Christian Devil.
* Three of the six demigod children of Hades/Pluto who appeared within the series has been over (technically) seventy years old and all of them are biologically younger in the books.
* In the original myths, his romance with Leuke happens in an unspecified period of time, being unknown if Hades was married then. However, in the books canon said romance took place during Hades' marriage to Persephone.
* In the text of the *Suda*, Macaria appears as Hades's daughter only, no mother mentioned.
* In *The Lightning Thief*, Hades was first considered to be the main villain, but he later helps fight against Kronos, the actual villain. This makes him similar to Set in *The Red Pyramid*, who later helped fight against Apophis. Set's initial role in the first book, however, is more sinister than Hades's.
* Even though it was mentioned that Hades was invited to Mount Olympus during the winter solstice (since it is the darkest day of the year, and the day ancient, evil magic is at its strongest), he did not make an appearance in the Olympian meeting in *The Titan's Curse*.
* As revealed in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hades frequently hires the greatest deceased actors and musicians from Elysium for entertainment.
* He is the only member of The Big Three who is known to have not broken the oath.
* His Egyptian equivalents are Osiris and Seker.
* His Norse equivalent is Hel.
* Hades' children' fatal flaw is holding a grudge against people which is a trait of Hades as well, as shown when he tried to kill Thalia Grace for what her father had done to Maria Di Angelo showing that he still held a grudge against Zeus despite many years passing.
* Interestingly, despite the fact that Hazel and the Romans who came back to life in *The Son of Neptune* are only stated be allowed to remain that way because Pluto/Hades chooses to ignore them, he does not seem to take action against those who were resurrected by Gaea when the Doors of Death were open because the resurrected Lityerses remains alive after the war.