Henry Hadal

"*You can call me...**Hades**,*"
—Henry Hadal[src]

**Henry Hadal** is the protagonist of *Godhood*. Formerly known as **Hades**, the Greek god of the underworld, Henry fled to the human world following the Cataclysm of Mount Olympus with his wife Kora. Forced to settle in Godhood, a neighbourhood of New York City home near-exclusively to Greek deities that survived the Cataclysm, Henry now serves as the *de facto* Sheriff of Godhood, responsible for investigating inter-deitiy crimes and keeping the "primates" unaware of their presence.

## Biography

### Background

#### Creation

Hades was the first-born son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He had three older "sisters", Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, as well as a younger "brother", Poseidon, all of whom had been swallowed whole by their father as soon as they were born. Zeus was the youngest child and through the machinations of their mother, Rhea, he was the only one that had escaped this fate.

Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings. After their release, the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in the Titanomachy, a divine war. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods. Following their victory, Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Zeus received the sky, Poseidon received the seas, and Hades received the underworld, the unseen realm to which the souls of the dead go upon leaving the world, as well as any and all things beneath the earth. Hades was initially dissatisfied with his turnout, but had no choice and moved to his new realm.

#### Lord of the Underworld

Upon forcibly taking control of the underworld, Hades secretly aided Prometheus in his efforts to make humanity from clay and gift them fire; however, Hades remained silent when Zeus imprisoned Prometheus, a great souce of shame for the god of the underworld. Over time, Hades received deceased human souls, who worshipped him as the god of the dead. Over time, Hades grew to become extremely possessive over his subjects, yet was noted as a more altruistic and caring ruler than his brothers Zeus and Poseidon.

On one of his rare journies to the surface, Hades met and fell in love with Persephone; despite her technically being his niece by human standards, the Greek deities had no concept of family aside from parenthood, and ultimately Persephone returned with Hades to the underworld. Her jealous mother, Demeter, convinced the other gods that Hades had kidnapped her, forcing Hades to agree to a deal: Persephone would stay with Hades for half the year, and spend the rest above with her mother. During periods where Hades and his wife were together, the world above would shrivel, starve and freeze, resulting in the misery of all living things and leaving Hades and his wife the only two happy entities in existence; whenever Persophone would leave, all the misery of the world would transfer to Hades while the world above flourished and bloomed. During these periods, Hades' misery would sometimes grow so great that he would consider throwing himself into the pits of Tartarus.

### Season 1

#### "Grace"

The story begins with Henry sitting in a cab driving to a dingy apartment in Queens. When he arrives, he is informed by the super of a commotion in an apartment above. They here the sound of a woman yelling and crying and Henry heads up to investigate.

When Bigby enters the apartment, he finds his brother Percy slapping and attempting to rape his wife Annie and quickly pounces on and restrains him. A violent confrontation breaks out between the two brothers that ends with Henry as the victor, breaking Percy's jaw in the process. The sheriff then questions Annie and her daughter Kimberly and tells them to get out of the apartment while he deals with Percy. His brother stands up, insulting both his family and Henry, who tackles him out of the window and onto the street. Percy is quick to recover and grabs Henry, shoving him against a sign and strangling him. Before he can draw out Henry's true form, Annie attacks him with his own trident, incapacitating him.

After she searches Percy for money and cigarettes, Annie and Henry make conversation before Henry orders both her and Kimberly take a cab to somewhere safer. In need of a statement about the assault, he asks her to come to Olympus Hall, but she offers to meet him at his apartment instead. She then gives him a kiss on the cheek, telling him he isn't as bad as people say he is before departing. Henry then marches over to his brother and confiscates his trident before reprimanding his brother about how he treats his wife. Percy shouts expletives at him, lamenting that they were gods once to which Henry tells him that those days are long passed. He then tells his brother to find a gutter to sober up in before hailing a taxi and leaving.

## Powers, Equipment and Abilities

### Powers

* **Olympian Physiology:** As an Olympian, Henry possesses incredible supernatural powers and superhuman attributes far surpassing many other Olympians. As one of the three principle Greek deities - the others being his "brothers" Percy and Zeus - he ranks as one of the most powerful members of his kind.
	+ **Superhuman strength**
	+ **Regenerative healing:** Like all gods, Henry possesses superhuman endurance and a healing factor; however, his role as the god of the dead, combined with his being one of the principle Greek lords, has gifted him regenerative abilities far beyond any of his fellow gods. Henry is near-impervious to small-arms fire, with no known metal capable to doing him permanent harm. However, his healing can be overwhelmed with enough physical trauma or exposure to mistletoe.
	+ **Immortality:** As a god, Henry is effectively immortal. Like other gods, Henry can only be permanently harmed through exposure to mistletoe or through repeated, prolonged physical trauma.
* **Retractable claws:** As the god of the dead, Henry is able to extend his fingernails into a set of sabre-like claws at will. These are his primary weapons, and are based on the supposed phenomena of continued fingernail growth on corpses.
* **Chain telekinesis:** Thanks to his mastery over the chains of Tartarus, Henry is able to telekinetically control chains and ropes of any length and composition. In addition, his body contains two amber chains between his bones that he can summon at will and use as deadly weapons; these internal chains cause him great physical pain whenever they are used.

### Equipment

#### Former Equipment

* **Bident:** Henry's primary weapon during his time as the Lord of the Underworld was his bident, a double-pronged spear. Through the bident, Hades could channel the power of the entire underworld, from the serene winds of the Elysian Fields to the hellfire of Tartarus. Following the Cataclysm of Mount Olympus, Hades was forced to abandon the bident in the underworld, where the Dishonoured Dead were unable to claim it.

### Weaknesses

* **Mistletoe**: Like all gods regardless of pantheon, Henry is severely weakened - and can even be killed - by exposure to mistletoe.

## Trivia

* Henry's surname, Hadal, means "of Hades".
	+ An example of usage of the term is the Hadal Zone, the region of the ocean where sunlight cannot penetrate, leaving it in permanent darkness.
* Henry's natural musk is described as "wonderful" due to his eons of exposure to the unique pollen of the Elysian Fields.
* Henry's ability to grow a set of claws from his fingernails is based off the supposed phenomena of continued fingernail growth on corpses.
	+ In reality, this phenomenon is due to the skin around the fingernails retracting as it becomes dehydrated after death, making them appear longer.