Chaos

**Chaos** is the embodiment of the primordial void from which Nyx and the Titans arose. They offer boons to Zagreus which, unlike the instant boosts offered by the Olympian gods, trade a debuff for a certain number of encounters in exchange for greater power further down the line.

Chaos resides within the Chaos Gates sometimes found within chambers.

## Characteristics and Personality

This primordial spectator is the keeper of secrets. They speak in a monotone and without emotion, and yet their voice seems to contain a multitude of separate voices of varying genders, all speaking in unison. Despite their eternal curiosity about existence, they have a distaste for 'small talk' and are impassive, content to merely watch Zagreus as he fights his way out of the underworld, never once trying to stop him. Chaos seems to derive amusement from this, perhaps out of boredom or sheer curiosity. They brand Dionysus as "the drunk," for his unpredictability and thus act as a source of amusement for them. Chaos will make sensitive, critical comments about the people that Zagreus meets, sometimes having knowledge of secrets known to very few due to their eternal watch over reality. They seem to despise the Olympians and help Zagreus purely out of self-interest, rather than loyalty. Composed, their decisions are mysterious, and Chaos doesn't like to be talked about unless they request it. When engaged in dialogue with another, often Zagreus, they will prompt the individual directly at the end of their statement by saying "Answer." Nevertheless, Chaos makes it known that they do not or will not compel the individual to answer, as that is their own choice to make.

Chaos cannot be measured or quantified in any meaningful way. Furthermore, leaving their realm would potentially destabilize all of order and existence, so they just decide to watch. They were distant in their role as a parent to Nyx, much to her dismay, and after much reflection during the events of the game, they later reveal to Zagreus their remorse for this.

Chaos suggests they would miss Zagreus too, was his visits to their realm ever to cease, but also seems content merely to be an observer of reality, happily gazing eternally into existence from afar and alone.

They love their daughter Nyx, and regret being absent for most of her life. They also used to play hide-and-seek when they were still together.

Despite Chaos saying that they are content to ponder the possibilities of the world they created, Chaos is grateful for being able to see glimpses of it when Zagreus wears the Chaos Aspect of the Aegis.

Chaos doesn't care for material gifts and seems happy to be alone most of the time, but will give Zagreus the cosmic egg in part because they want him to visit more. Combined with Chaos secretly missing Nyx (and possibly Chaos' other children as well), Chaos seems more lonely than they admit to.

## Physical description

While the other gods could pass for human, or at least human-like, it's immediately clear that Chaos is not of this world, yet even they have some human characteristics. Their skin is gray higher up on their body, gradually darkening to dark yellow further down, and then becoming featureless black and brown.

The closest Chaos has to "normal" in their appearance is their human head and torso. Bat-like wings are where their ears should be, and in the middle of their chest is a red stone or eye. Another large eye is on their forehead, and on that eye itself, two smaller eyes can be seen.

Where Chaos's abdomen and lower torso would be, and circling up their chest and behind their head, is a tangle of red-eyed, melted-together human heads, including one that's missing its upper half above the nose. Mixed in with this mass are a few bones, small plants (some with red leaves, some the same color of Chaos's skin), and a human fetus, eventually trailing down into a dark, indistinct shape. On the right side of their body is the edge of what seems to be a robe, which blends back into the mishmash of flesh and faces.

A starry background is seen behind Chaos, and behind their head are two shapes reminiscent of a human eye, one having many colors and the other gold, all symbolizing their existence outside reality as we know it while watching our reality from beyond. Held in Chaos's right hand, between their index finger and thumb and the size of a large marble in comparison to their hand, is the planet Earth.

## History

### Before Hades

Chaos, possibly the first existence, is the anthropomorphic personification of the primitive state. Chaos resides in the space between worlds and the underworld, where the walls of reality are thin and can be found at the Gates of Chaos.

### Hades

They offer their own set of boons to Zagreus for their inscrutable purposes.

## Affinity

If given Nectar, Chaos will give you the Cosmic Egg.

Once you have given Chaos 6 Nectar, you will not be able to give more gifts until you complete a favor for them.

After you complete the favor, they can be gifted Ambrosia, although they will not give a Companion in return.

Chaos' affinity gauge is maxed out at 8 hearts, requiring the gifting of 6 Nectar and 2 Ambrosia total.

### Favor

Chaos' favor is part of the same event as Nyx's favor, requiring you to reunite the two of them to fulfill one of the Fated List of Minor Prophecies. At some point, Chaos will reveal that they tried to reach out to Nyx, per Zagreus' advice. Later on, Nyx will instruct you to upgrade the eldest sigil in the administrative chamber to serve as a bridge to Chaos, which will cost you 3142  at the House Contractor. After purchasing the upgrade, you can find Nyx in Chaos' domain, and Chaos will remark that they are pleased to be able to reconnect with their daughter. From then on, you can give Ambrosia to Chaos.

## Codex entry

'*...Even Nyx, our Mother Night, comes from somewhere; even the Olympians above, and the Master himself. Eternal though they are, they came unto this world after they, or their ancestors, sprang from the darkness of Chaos. Here, within the Underworld, we are closer to Chaos than the mortals and the gods above. Closer to that first, long-forgotten, primordial consciousness, oft forgotten now or believed dead and gone. Yet, as all of us residing in this realm are well aware, the dead survive eternally, and thus are closer to the gods. Perhaps, then, all of us exist and make our choices precisely as Chaos envisioned in ancient aeons past.*'

Unlocking the complete Codex Entry requires deepening Zagreus' relationship with Chaos.

'*Nyx certainly seems to think so, from what little she has said of her parent. It seems the two broke ties at some point; not for any specific cruelty, but as a wolf cub leaves her pack, seeking her own way. Thus having grown apart, their connection weakened, and failed. All they now share is a solitary fate.*'

## Quotes

> *For quotes and dialogue regarding Chaos, please refer to Chaos/Quotes.*
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## Boons

Chaos's boons function differently from the Olympian gods' boons. They come in two halves: a Curse and a Blessing, which are randomly selected. The Curse negatively affects Zagreus for a given number of encounters, after which it permanently transforms into the Blessing for the remainder of the run. The rarity of the overall boon only affects the Blessing.

A boon's name depends on which effects were randomly chosen, with the first half being the Curse and the second half the Blessing (e.g. Pauper's Favor, Abyssal Grasp).

Unlike other boons, you can get the same Blessing more than once in a run and the effects stack additively. Their boons cannot be upgraded with Pom of Power, or sold.

The damage inflicted by the Maimed, Flayed, and Addled Curses cannot reduce Zagreus below 1 . The animation, sound, and voice line for taking damage will still play, but his health will not actually drop.

### Curses

If you're in the middle of a biome and trying to decide whether to accept a curse, check your current chamber number (upper right corner of the Boons screen) and be mindful of upcoming boss encounters. Bosses for the first 3 biomes appear in chambers 14, 24, and 36. The rooms immediately before them (13, 23, and 35) will always be non-combat chambers.

With the exception of Enshrouded, curses last for numbers of encounters (chambers with enemies) rather than chambers, so a 3 encounter curse accepted in chamber 10 would still be around for the boss fight in chamber 14 because of the shop or Pom in chamber 13.

Or a 4 encounter curse in chamber 8 could be around for the boss fight if you get a fountain afterwards - a fight in chamber 9, fountain in 10, fights 11 and 12, and shop/Pom in 13.

Zagreus will make a comment when injured by a curse (Addled, Flayed, and Maimed) and a visual effect displaying bleeding will play. The damage from these curses has no cooldown, which means that activating their condition rapidly (for example, with a weapon with very fast fire rate) can drain large swaths of HP near instantly. These curses will not reduce your health below 1 HP, albeit the visual effect and Zagreus's comment will still play.

## Trivia

* Chaos's symbol, five arrows spread in a fan, is a reference to Michael Moorcock's Symbol of Chaos. Normally having eight radial arrows, it has become a common symbol to represent the concept of chaos.
* The eldest sigil costs 3142  to unlock. That is exactly the number of gods believed to exist in Greek mythology.
* Chaos mentions enjoying watching Dionysus because, like Zagreus, they both find entertainment in Dionysus's unpredictable nature.

## Additional Notes

*For additional information on Chaos that does not pertain to Hades, see Wikipedia's article: Chaos (cosmogony)*

## References

1. ↑ https://mythology.stackexchange.com/questions/1622/how-many-gods-goddesses-are-there-in-total-in-greek-mythology/1623#1623