Hades

"I am not an Olympian! My family has made that quite clear.""

- Hades

Hades (Άδης in Ancient Greek) is the Greek god of the Underworld. One of the Big Three gods, his wife is Persephone. Hades' Roman counterpart is Pluto and he is portrayed by Steve Coogan in The Lightning Thief Film.

History


Hades is the eldest son of the Titans, Kronos and Rhea as well as the third of their children. He was consumed immediately after birth by Kronos who was paranoid that he would be overthrown by one of his own children. Hades thus spent his childhood in his father's stomach along with his brother, Poseidon, and his sisters; Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. During the Titanomachy, he proved to be a ferocious warrior and greatly aided in the ultimate downfall of Kronos and his followers. Although it was Hades' birthright to be named his father's successor, he agreed to divide the Titan King's former domain with his brothers and acquiesced, albeit resentfully, to taking the Underworld as his prize.

Although he distanced himself from his family, Hades was lonely and wanted a wife to fill the void. One day, he spotted a young goddess named Persephone whose great beauty and tender countenance won his admiration. Hades decided to take her as his bride despite his estrangement with her parents and his siblings, Demeter and Zeus. Hades secretly received Zeus' blessing but he knew that their overprotective sister would refuse to even consider the marriage and so promptly kidnapped Persephone. He then proceeded to woo the distressed goddess with gifts but eventually won her heart through empathy and kindness.

A distraught and griefstricken Demeter soon caused the earth to become barren 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 gods, Zeus demanded that his brother return the new queen of the dead. Hades refused to lose his wife so easily and persuaded Persephone to eat three pomegranate seeds which would ensure that she returned to him for three months of each year.

The Lightning Thief
Hades sent the Minotaur to abduct Sally Jackson and use her as a bargaining chip at the time when Percy Jackson was accused of stealing Zeus' Master bolt. Percy and his friends traveled to California to enter the Underworld when Percy thought that Hades stole Zeus' Master bolt. It turned out that Hades' Helm of Darkness was also stolen. After Percy defeated Ares (who was responsible for placing the Master bolt stolen by Luke in Percy's bag) and reclaimed the Helm of Darkness, Percy gave the Helm of Darkness to the Furies (who saw and heard what happened) whom returned to the Underworld with it. Thus, Hades was able to uphold his end of the bargain by returning Sally to her apartment unharmed.

The Titan's Curse
After about 70 years, Hades had the Fury Alecto (who was disguised as a male lawyer) get his children Bianca and Nico di Angelo out of the Lotus Hotel and Casino as he hoped that one of them could be the child in the Great Prophecy, shortly before the events of this book.

The Demigod Files
A new symbol of power was being made for Hades. A sword that contains a key to free and capture souls into and out of the Underworld. The weapon had been made by Persephone without his knowledge. The sword was stolen by Ethan Nakamura and retrieved by Thalia, Percy and Nico. In exchange for having the sword returned, Percy made Hades swear on the River Styx not to use the weapon against the gods. Afterwards Hades agreed and left angrily, now realizing that Persephone disobeyed him and made the sword against his wishes.

The Last Olympian
Originally, Hades didn't want to help his fellow Olympians, saying that they had never helped him and stayed in the Underworld with Demeter and Persephone. However, eventually persuaded by his son, Nico di Angelo, he arrived to save Olympus and fight off his father, Kronos, with his son, wife, and Demeter. However, despite his efforts, the Titan Army fought their way into the Empire State Building, and Kronos made it to the throne room. However, he was stopped by the efforts of Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Hestia. He was later welcomed amongst the gods, for his bravery in battle, a feeling he hadn't felt in quite a while. He also sat in the Throne Room, despite the fact that he was only allowed during the Winter solstice, while his son sat at his feet beaming. He became angered at Percy, when the hero seemed to suggest that he was a Minor God, which Percy quickly denied and went on to say that he too should gain a Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. He also agreed to "streamline the application process" of the hunters who had died in battle, sending them straight to Elysium instead of waiting in the E-Z Death line (this was done to ease Artemis' glaring at him when she politely demanded that her dead Hunters be sent to Elysium ).

The Son of Neptune
He appears as Pluto in a flashback during World War II, visiting his daughter on her birthday and giving her a set of colored pencils and a sketch pad. When Thanatos is freed, Hazel asks if her name is on the list of escaped souls. The god tells it is not, explaining that Pluto may have thought her life wasn't finished or it was an oversight.

When Hazel returns to camp, she is asked if her father had contacted her. She says no but it is better as if he did go to see her, he would have to acknowledge that she was alive and would have to bring her back to the Underworld. In Pluto's own way, not contacting her is his gift to her.

Personality
Hades is noted to be a particularly honorable and just as well as a harsh god. He respects oaths and the laws of morality. Ironically, he 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. His 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 traverses to the Underworld. He is also noted to be a hardworking and busy god.

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 trick Persephone into staying in the Underworld (though he did it because he was in love and searching for a wife). He also carries grudges for a long time, a trait he passes onto his children. His traits mirror that of his father Kronos in terms of cunning, ruthlessness, and deviousness. As his daughter Bianca put it, "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 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). Hades is a harsh father and is often demanding and critical of Nico, who he constantly compares to Bianca, but he does rarely show Nico that he does care for him.

His lover Maria di Angelo, stated he was a kind and generous man, hinting there may be a softer side to him.

As Hades
Hades is described as a god with albino white skin, intense black eyes that were either the eyes of a genius or a madman, and having a mesmerizing, evil charisma, and shoulder-length black hair. In The Demigods Files, he is described as having a beard. He often wears black silk robes with souls threaded into the cloth. In battle, he wears imposing black armor with a blood-red cape and his terrifying helm. He arms himself with both his two-pronged staff and his mighty sword.

As Pluto
As Pluto, he dresses in a dark suit with a black and platinum tie and a tombstone gray shirt. If you look at his suit closely, you can see the souls trying to escape from their agony, much like Hades' robe. He still has the silver ring on his finger, which are as pale as the rest of his body. He is so pale that it is described as being the same color as cold milk. He looks very much like Adolf Hitler, but this could simply be what people see when they look at him (as when Percy saw Hades, he looked like every evil dictator in history). He also doesn't have a mustache and is clean shaven, with greasy black hair. His eyes are also very similar to his Greek form, being fiery, angry, and full of mad power.

Pluto
Hades can change into his Roman counterpart of Pluto. As Pluto, he has a more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike nature but also a more relaxed demeanor than his Greek aspect. He has children but no descendants at Camp Jupiter near San Francisco. Hades was envisioned by the Greeks as a fearsome and powerful being. The Romans believed that Pluto was less associated with death and more with wealth.

Abilities
Hades is the God of the Underworld and thus wields dark and demonic powers. He is one of the 3 strongest Gods of Olympus and is rivaled only by Zeus and Poseidon.
 * He has the ultimate powers that a god can possess
 * He can generate and control Hellfire( infernal flames)
 * He can summon and control legions of the dead and zombie warriors(ultimate level of necromancy). He can unleash endless waves of the dead to maul or destroy his opponents.
 * He can control darkness and shadows thus using them for concealment as well as attack.
 * He can control to a large extent the dead and demons native to the Underworld.
 * He can create and control dark energy( form of black fireballs, dark energy balls, blasts and lightning)
 * He is immune to electricity
 * He is a shapershifter with the ability to transform himself into various fearsome demonic forms (as shown in film).
 * Wields a Stygian sword, capable of absorbing the essence or life-force of monsters and mortals respectively.

Attributes
Hades' attributes are his scepter, two-pronged staff, his Helm of Darkness, and his pet-dog, Cerberus, and now his sword (after The Demigod Files).

He is mostly seen sitting in his throne in the Underworld, with Cerberus, while wearing his Helm of Darkness. Hades' main attribute is the Key of Death.

Persephone
When Hades fell in love with Persephone, and kidnapped her, she did not want to stay with him, and wanted to be rescued. Over time, she 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, and he didn't ever nag, boss, or smother her. He very much wanted her love and tried to buy it with many gifts at first, but then took to spending all of his day with her, trying to make her happy. Persephone was tricked and ate the 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, calling him "my lord."

Hades loves his wife, but during the time when she is away from him, he does not like to be alone. He seeks out mortal women during this time. Persephone hates hearing of his affairs, his extremely few demigod children, and of Maria di Angelo especially. Hades is apologetic about his girlfriends with Persephone, but she is 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 younger sister Demeter is his mother-in-law, and his youngest brother Zeus is his father-in-law.

Immortal Family
His 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 perserve 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 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.

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 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 brother Poseidon is not shown, though seeing as though he didn't single out Percy's death it can assume it's healthier than his relationship with Zeus. Initially coming off cold 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 doesn't show it. This does change after the the events in The Last Olympian, as he was accepted because he helped save Olympus.

Mistresses
Hades must have loved Bianca and Nico's mother, Maria di Angelo, very much if he had two separate (as opposed to twins) children with her. When Maria di Angelo was killed by Zeus, 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.

He was angry and cursed the Oracle so that no one else could replace her until he and his children were respected and treated as heroes. He also seems to feel affection for his children, as described by Percy In The Sword of Hades in The Demigod Files: "Hades turned back to Nico. 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 then Nico, because in The Last Olympian, Hades tells Nico that "his sister would have done a better job". One of these reasons was the fact that she looks so much like her mother Maria.

It is hinted throughout the series that during WWII Hades children fought against Zeus and Poseidon's children on the loosing side. It can be assumed that his children were Adolf Hitler and/or Benito Mussolini.

Even in mythology he is the one god who never cheated on his wife. One nymph named Minthe attempted to seduce him, but before it could happen, Persephone, his wife, interrupted and changed Minthe into the plant called Mint.

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 in The Demigod Files, it is revealed 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.

The Lightning Thief
Hades is portrayed by Steve Coogan. He made an appearance in one of the early trailers where Percy and the others encounter him in the Underworld. He was seen with his wife, Persephone, on the sidelines, bargaining for the Master Bolt for Percy's mother, Sally Jackson. In comparison with the books, Hades dresses more modern and casual than his brothers, who dress in Greek battle armor, while in the book he was described as the first god Percy met who actually appeared god-like. He is shown wearing dark-colored, torn, Goth-like clothing with jewelry and a finger claw.

In a recent clip it was shown that Hades is a proficient shape-shifter and has a bit of a sense of humor. This was shown in the clip when Grover comments in surprise that Hades does not look like they pictured him. Hades morphs into a giant flaming demonic figure, and Grover shouts for him to stick with "the Mick Jagger thing. It works for you."

His personality is much more sinister here, taking the place of both Ares and Kronos' in their involvement in the theft of the Master Bolt. Here, Persephone is held against her will and hates him. As he plans to use the bolt to replace Zeus as king of the gods, he is blasted by her in anger.

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Trivia

 * The now unofficial ninth (dwarf) planet from the Sun, Pluto, is named after Hades' Roman aspect.
 * His Roman name Pluto means "the rich one."
 * He is considered to be a stern and fair god as well as one of the more passive Olympians in real mythology.
 * Pluto was generally not excepted by the Olympians and was kept in the Underworld, much like how the planet Pluto is not considered to be a planet.
 * Pluto's/Hades's three children (Bianca, Nico and Hazel) were all born in the 1900's.