Zeus

Zeus, King of the Greek Gods and Ruler of Olympus.

**Zeus**, is both a fictional character and deuteragonist of the *HCoW* series created by Jade Raymond and Kaname Fujioka. He was an Isu, revered as the Olympian God of the Sky, Thunder, Lightning, and the Heavens in Greek mythology.

He was also the youngest child of the Titan King, Cronus, and Rhea. Zeus ascended to king hood and became ruler of Mount Olympus after his father's defeat in Great War and banishment to the pits of Tartarus, along with the other Titans.

As the chief Greek deity, Zeus is considered the ruler, protector, and father of all gods and humans. Over the centuries, he has created new life forms, where he educated humans on weather, astronomy and science through wisdom and will.

Though he loves his wife, Zeus is known for his many offspring, having fathered numerous children with many different women, both most of the Gods of Olympus and many famous demi-gods that he has seduced over the millennia.

Zeus and Ares believed the destruction of Olympus would come at the hands of Kratos' brother, so they had Deimos imprisoned and tortured by Thanatos. Many years later, Zeus realizes Kratos was the prophesied Marked Warrior, not Deimos.

He tricked Kratos into draining his godly powers into the Blade of Olympus, stating it was required to deal with the new threat actually created by Zeus. Kratos, stripped of his power, was mortally wounded while human, and killed by Zeus.

With the help of the Titan Gaia, Kratos used the power of the Sisters of Fate to return to the moment Zeus betrayed him and defeated Zeus after extensive combat. Zeus was saved by Athena, who sacrificed herself to preserve Olympus.

Before dying, Athena revealed that Zeus was infected with fear when Pandora's Box was first opened, and Zeus also feared a perpetuation of the son-killing-father cycle, as Cronus had before he was imprisoned by Zeus in the past.

After a lengthy battle and an enlightening encounter with Pandora in his psyche, Kratos finally overcame and killed Ares, Zeus and nearly all the gods of Olympus. Later, Zeus appears as a haunting vision/illusion to Kratos while in Helheim.

He was the biological father of most of the gods of Olympus and many famous demigods such as Hercules, Perseus, Peirithous and even the Spartan warrior Kratos as well as his brother Deimos.

"*My Brothers. We were forged in a victory. A victory that ended the Great War and brought forth the reign of Mt. Olympus. Born from the Depths of the Underworld. Rooted in the River of Souls, our Mountain emerged out of the Chaos. As it grew, so too did the might of the Olympians. We created a world of peace, a world of prosperity, a world that lives in the shadow and safety of My Mountain. A Mountain that has come to be the absolute measure of Strength and Power. Now, on this Day, that power is to be tested. The Mortals, seeks to destroy all that I have wrought. We have faced far worse many times before. But we are the gods! We who the many have worship. We who rule over this land. We who will not be swept aside by fallen mortals and petulant fools! Brothers, put aside the petty grievances that have splintered us for so long. We will unite. We will stand together. And I will wipe out this plague! Olympus...will prevail!*"

—Zeus, to Poseidon, Hades, Helios and Hermes, before the war.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Corey Burton (English), Not Known (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Croatian), Not Known (Danish), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Filipino), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hong Kong), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Ukrainian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Canadian French), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish), Not Known (Spain-Spanish)

### Appearance

Zeus appears as an old muscular white-haired man. His eyes are pure white. In his neutral, unaltered form he appears to stand well over 7 feet when compared to the already especially tall Kratos. Originally, he wears white toga and golden arm guards, but after the start of the Human-Isu War he replaces his toga with a golden side guard, possibly the Aegis of Zeus, that had similar powers to the Golden Fleece.

* Hair Color: White
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Blue
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Zeus' benevolent side was more prevalent, in which he was depicted as a caring god who sought to punish evildoers and oath-breakers, even empathizing with his son Kratos' (who at that time was unaware Zeus was his grandfather) grievances against Ares despite all of the terrible things Kratos had done.

Even though he had a benevolent side, he had some negativity within him as he placed a curse on his lover (and Kratos' mother) Callisto to transform into a grotesque monster should she ever reveal his relation to Kratos or Deimos, he also feared Deimos to the point of imprisoning and torturing him for eternity due to The Marked Warrior prophecy. He had even condemned his former ally, Prometheus, to eternal torment when the latter used the Fires of Olympus to help mortals, thus drew the ire of Zeus.

After the Pandora's box opened, he was possessed by one of the evils in the box: fear. This transformed Zeus into a cruel, wrathful, paranoid, and power-hungry deity, as evidenced by how he started treating Kratos and the innocent Pandora with cruelty. He was also becoming unfaithful to Hera, having cheated on his wife countless times and fathering many bastard children (including Hercules).

He seemed to care very little about the well-being of his own children, going as far as to dispose of his own sons Hephaestus and Kratos, caring very little to not at all for Ares' (whose destructive behavior feared him) death and imprisoning Deimos out of fear of being dethroned. The evils of the box also caused Zeus to develop an intense fear of Kratos, whom he now realized was the "Marked Warrior" foretold in the Oracle's prophecy that would perpetuate the cycle of patricide which led to Zeus overthrowing his own father Cronus.

Witnessing his ruthless murder of the Furies along with Ares, Thanatos, and Persephone, Zeus' fears were further exacerbated by Kratos' intense hatred for the other gods of Olympus (with Hephaestus, Athena, and Aphrodite being the only obvious exceptions) and his destructive rampages across Greece during his reign as God of War. In response, Zeus took the form of an eagle and siphoned off a large portion of Kratos' godhood powers, infusing them into the Colossus of Rhodes.

He then tricked Kratos into transferring the rest of his powers into the Blade of Olympus, weakening him to the point of near-death before finishing him off for good. To prevent his followers from helping their fallen god and to punish Kratos even more, Zeus destroyed Sparta, killing hundreds of innocent people in the process.

Despite the fact that his father Cronus committed horrible deeds, Zeus was willing to betray and turn against all Titans, including Gaia, who once saved him from his father, seemingly for the sins of the latter. In addition to this, however, according to Atlas, Zeus' war against the Titans also stems from his hunger for power as he had a desire to rule over mortals.

Ironically, Zeus' treatment of his fellow gods, mortals, and titans matches nearly perfectly with how Zeus treated others in actual Greek mythos. Just as Zeus was cruel, controlling and arguably quite evil, this matched how Zeus was responsible for many terrible things that were written about in real-life Greek mythos.

He had zero regard for nearly anyone and would use everyone he could as a pawn to further his personal goals, including his own siblings and first-born children, even going as far as not showing any care when his entire family was being killed by Kratos, seemingly only focused on killing Kratos himself, without any remorse or sadness for the deaths of his closest family members. While this unnatural coldness from Zeus could be blamed on the evils that infected him from Pandora's Box, Zeus was already a horrible person like this well before that, so it is safe to say that Zeus has always been a cold, heartless being with little regard for anyone but himself.

Not even his own family were safe, as he used them as mere pawns in his war against Kratos and the Titans, mourning little (if at all) about the losses of Athena (who tried to protect him, giving him a chance to escape Kratos' wrath the first time), Poseidon, Hades, Helios, Hermes, Hercules, possibly Hephaestus (even though he brutally beat him to a pulp on learning of his deception after being infected), and Hera, his wife. But when the evils that possessed him left his body, he somehow let himself get beaten by his grandson, implying that he finally realized that his persecution and fear of Kratos created a self-fulling prophecy.

## Relationships

### Family

* Uranus (Grandfather) †
* Gaia (Grandmother) †
* Cronus (Father) †
* Rhea (Mother)
* Aphrodite (Aunt/Daughter-in-law) †
* Alecto (Aunt) †
* Oceanus (Uncle) †
* Tisiphone (Aunt) †
* Hyperion (Uncle) †
* Megaera (Aunt) †
* Gyges (Uncle) †
* Aegaeon (Uncle) †
* Cottus (Uncle) †
* Hera (Wife/Sister) †
* Poseidon (Brother) †
* Hestia (Sister)
* Hades (Brother/Son-in-law) †
* Demeter (Sister/Lover)
* Helios (Cousin) †
* Eos (Cousin) †
* Selene (Cousin)
* Amphitrite (Cousin/Sister-in-law)
* Ares (Son) †
* Athena (Daughter) †
* Apollo (Son)
* Artemis (Daughter)
* Pollux (Son) †
* Persephone (Daughter) †
* Hermes (Son) †
* Hercules (Son) †
* Hephaestus (Son) †
* Perseus (Son) †
* Minos (Son) †
* Aecus (Son) †
* Rhadamanthus (Son) †
* Peirithous (Son) †
* Muses (Daughters)
* Kratos (Grandson)
* Deimos (Grandson) †
* Lysandra (Grandaughter-in-law) †
* Calliope (Grandaughter-in-law) †
* Callisto (Grandaughter-in-law) †
* Xena (Grandaughter-in-law) †
* Atreus (Great-Grandson)
* Pandora (Adoptive Grand-daughter) †
* Ceryx (Grandson) †
* Orkos (Grandson) †
* Theseus (Nephew) †
* Pegasus (Nephew) †
* Nyads (Nieces)

## External links

* Zeus *Wikipedia*
* Zeus *God of War Wiki*
* Zeus *Myths and Folklore Wiki*