Hades

Hades is the Olympian God of the Underworld, and one of the Big Olympian Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades). He is surpassed in eminence only by his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon although it is possible that Hades is considered equal to Poseidon. He is the oldest son of the Titans Cronos and Rhea and husband of Persephone.

He seeks to overthrow his brothers and rule all of the Skies, Land, and Sea. The only thing that stands in his way are the Demi-Gods, especially Perseus.

## Characteristics

* **Name**: Hades
* **Aliases**: Lord of the Underworld, Pluto (hates the name)
* **Age**: Unknown
* **Hair**: Deathly Blue (Hellish Red when mad)
* **Eyes**: Yellow and Black
* **Likes**: Torturing Perseus and his closest friends, flirting with women, manipulating people, power, causing havoc, monsters, negotiations, winning, abusing Pain and Panic, Persephone
* **Dislikes**: Demigods including Perseus and Hercules, Zeus, defeat, water, Hecate trying to steal his turf, Pain and Panic's stupidity, love, Hero merchandise, the Underworld, verses, puns, getting blasted by Zeus' lighting bolts, being nice, arguing with Persephone, Cronos
* **Family**: Gods of Olympus (siblings, nephews, and nieces), Persephone (Wife), Perseus (half-nephew), Thraxus (demi-god son)

## Background

A long time ago, before mortals existed, the Titans ruled the world. However, Kronos, King of the Titans, was warned of a prophecy where one of his six children would kill him and take control of the world from him. In response, Kronos began swallowing his children in hopes of preventing the prophecy from coming true. Hades was the first of his sibling to be devoured by his evil father and his brother Poseidon soon followed. However, Hades's mother, Rhea, saved the final child Zeus by tricking Kronos into swallowing a stone wrapped in a blanket while an eagle carried the real Zeus to safety. Poseidon and Hades grew up inside of their father's stomach while Zeus hid from Kronos. Years later, Hades was freed by Zeus when he gave Kronos a potion which made him vomit Hades and his siblings as well as the stone substituted for Zeus. After being freed, Hades went to the Underworld with Zeus and Poseidon and freed the cyclopes, who gave Hades the helmet of invisibility as a gift.

Later, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades declared a ten year war on the Titans called the Titanomachy. During the Titanomachy, Hades, created a giant monster called the Kraken to help them against the Titans. Finally, after ten years of war, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades finally defeated Kronos and banished their father and the Titans to Tartarus where they hoped they would remain imprisoned forever. Hades became God of the Underworld, Poseidon became God of the Seas, and Zeus became King of the Gods and God of the Sky. Zeus, as his frst act as ruler of the world, created mortals to populate the world.

Unbeknownst to Zeus and the other deities, however, Hades despises the Underworld, as well as his job, finding them both gloomy, depressing, and overbearing. Because of this, Hades secretly plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus as the King of Deities, himself. Though powerful in his own right, Hades is considerably weaker than Zeus, and maybe even Poseidon, if not equal to the latter. As such, he often allies himself with various beasts and creatures lurking through Greece, hiring them to do his bidding.

Years later, Hades learned of the prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi. A prophecy that called on a Demi-God, a Marked Warrior or Marked One that would be prophesized to either save or destroy not just the Gods of Olympus but all other realms. Hades knew that he had to control this Marked One to favor his rule. So when Ares and Athena were about to kill Deimos (believed to be the Marked One), Hades took him from them and had him given to Thanatos for care and imprisoned, secretly hoping to mold him into the Perfect Warrior for the job. But on being better safe than sorry, he had conceived a Demi-God son of his own, Thraxus.

Althoguh he was aware of his brother Zeus' habit of impregnating mortal women and getting Demi-God children, the latest one Persus brought about concern. The Legend of the Marked One came into being, and from the Stygian Sisters, he learned that Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa would slay the Kraken in his attempts to drain the Olympian Gods of their power. For they fed on the love of mortals, he fed on the fear, and with the Kraken to terrorize Athens, it would be a feast unlike any other to power him. So when Medusa beseeched for a God to help her become human again, he sent the Furies to bring her forth. While Aphrodite interfered, he still made the deal and Blood Oath to ensnare her. The deal was that he would make her human during the day, while she returned to Gorgon by night, unwittingly causing fear to spread. Though if by the day of the Eclipse (when the Kraken would rise up and take Andromeda as a sacrifice), if she found someone who truly cared for her for who she was rather than as what she was, he would make her human permanently.

During the week, Hades feared that Medusa might get what she wanted, as Perseus was close to being a friend to her. But her fears and pain for living a lie got the better of her, as she revealed herself to Perseus (with the use of special glasses Aphrodite gave her), and he shunned her in fear. Hades was close to winning, as she went back to her island grove, and he warned her that Perseus and the others would come for her head to kill the Gorgon.

Believing that Medusa and Perseus killed each other, as the Kraken arose from the ocean, Hades traveled to Olympus where he revealed his intentions to overthrow Zeus and take the throne from him. Hades teleported before Zeus could strike him as the Kraken was released. Hades then sent his Harpies to steal Medusa from Perseus to prevent him from defeating the Kraken, but Perseus and Medusa, with the help from Icarus and Clarissa, managed to evade and flew on Pegasus to Athens to confront the Kraken. Just as Andromeda was about to be sacrificed, Medusa used her stone gaze to turn the Kraken to stone. Infuriated at both Perseus and Medusa, Hades confronted the heroes himself vowing they would never defeat him. Perseus defied Hades and called upon Zeus to aid him just as he raised the Blade of Olympus. Zeus threw a lightning bolt from afar and merged it with the sword. Before Hades could strike Perseus down, the heroic demigod quickly shot his sword at Hades merged with Zeus's lightning bolt and striking him in the chest, and Hades was blasted down into the Underworld, his evil plans had ultimately failed. Hades survived and Perseus and Zeus both knew that Hades would eventually return to claim Olympus from his brother and exact revenge.

## Personality

What Hades lacks in physical strength that can match Zeus's, he makes up for in meticulous planning, impressive manipulation, and an intimidating aura. Aside from that, Hades is best known for his uncontrollably hot temper, although he is fully aware of this and immediately tries to remain calm and maintain composure as much as he can. At times, the smallest inconveniences can send him over the edge, causing fiery fits and extreme damage to the area and people around him, depending on the situation. This quality makes him a feared figure among Greece and beyond, especially in the eyes of his minions, Pain and Panic. Despite their constant colossal failures and lies, he seems to have a surprising amount of faith in these imps as he continuously sends them out with various missions and tasks, most of which are rather major.

As mentioned earlier, Hades is a master manipulator and often resorts to making deals to get the best of his enemies. Even so, he's an honest god, and keeps his end of the bargain with every deal made, despite the stakes or importance - a rare quality found among villains.

He is also fairly comedic, often making jokes and pop-culture references during casual conversations, though they are usually played for his own, twisted amusement, and at the expense of others.

Unlike the Gods of Olympus, he has no respect for the mortals he has shown in the wager of the gods. Though he relishes on their fear, as he claims he has learned to feed on that instead of love like the others have.

Despite his negative qualities, he does have some redeeming traits as well. He is one of the more reasonable and affable gods of Olympus on his better days as well as a loving, loyal husband to Persephone. He also shares the same hatred towards his father, Cronos, as his siblings. He also has an affable respect towards Perseus as much as he hates to admit it. He is also not completely heartless as he showed genuine sympathy after Orpheus lost Eurydice.

## Skills/Abilities

### Powers

As the ruler of the Underworld and everything that resides within it, Hades is both the oldest of his siblings and one of the most powerful of the Olympian Gods surpassed only by his brothers Zeus and Poseidon. Hades is naturally a force to be reckoned with by any being who is foolish enough to anger him. His will alone is the absolute authority in both the gloomy realm itself as well as all other areas that are under his control; Nothing happens in the realm without his knowledge of it.

* **Male Olympian God**
* **Death-Force Manipulation**: Hades can kill or manipulate death forces to his will and since he was the God of the Underworld, he has secondary authority and representative of death; the primary authority and representative of death is Thanatos, God of Death.
* **Immortality**: Like all Gods, Hades is immortal, and could not be slain by mortal means.
* *Invisibility'*
	+ **Invulnerability**: Hades is invincible to certain forms of attacks, all mortal weapons, and able to take significant amounts of force.
	+ **Necromancy**: As the ruler of the Underworld, Hades has absolute control over the souls of the dead and his world, to the degree where he was able to gift them to worthy mortals, Hades can also instantly steal souls from mortals or magical beings from far. The best example of this is seen when Hades stole Atlas's soul and absorbed it.
	+ **Power Bestowal**: Followers of Hades are granted a fraction of Lord Hades' powers and become Warriors that literally fight with Spirit. They are capable of using their abilities to steal life force from others and emit dangerous elemental attacks that target the Soul of another enemy. Followers of Hades can also use teleportation to surprising his enemies and can also use stealth to become invisible or become spirits to protect themselves temporarily. They are capable of summoning a few hands of Hades to aid them in battle. Due to Hades granting these powers they should be able to replicate them (some of which they did) on a smaller scale.

### Skills

* **Business Management**
* **Deal-Making**
* **Silver Tongue**
* **Keeping An Eye on the Souls of the Dead.**

### Equipment

* **Claws of Hades**: Forged by the God of the Underworld himself, these spiked hooks are attached to serrated chains that allowed Hades to *literally* pull out the souls of his enemies.
* **Helmet of Invisibility**: Crafted by the cyclopes and gifted to him after freeing them, this helmet, when worn, generates an aura that bends light around it, allowing the wearer to be unseen.
* **Bident of the Underworld**

## Greek Mythology

Hades was the ancient Greek god of the Underworld and the brother of Zeus, but his name was shared with the abode of the dead. In Greek Mythology, Hades was the first son and fourth child of Cronos and Rhea. According to myth, he along with his younger brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans in battle and took over rulership of the cosmos; ruling the Underworld, Sky, and Sea, respectively; the solid earth, the long province of Gaia, was available to all three concurrently.

He was also called "Plouton" (Greek: meaning "Rich One"), a name which the Romans Latinized as Pluto. The Romans would associate Hades/Pluto with their own chthonic gods, Dis Pater and Orcus. The corresponding Etruscan god was Aita and the corresponding Canaanite god was Mot. Symbols associated with him are the Helm of Darkness and the three-headed dog, Cerberus.

## Trivia

* While being a villainous character, this interpretation of Hades also has some elements from his mythological counterpart in that he is one of the more reasonable of the Big Three.
* The Claws of Hades were taken from the video game series, *God of War*.
* The Bident is Hades' signature weapon in Greek Mythology.