| Hades | Pluto |
| “ | The dead see what they believe they will see. So do the living. That is the secret. | ” |
–- Pluto to his daughter Hazel Levesque on how to control the mist, in The House of Hades. | ||
Pluto is the Roman counterpart of Hades. As Pluto, he becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. While the Greeks feared him as the Lord of the Underworld, the Romans respected him as the god of riches.
Quick Answers
Who is Pluto in mythology?
What is Pluto's appearance in The Son of Neptune?
What is Pluto's role in the Underworld?
What powers does Pluto have?
What is Pluto's name derived from?
History[]
Pluto's regions are supposed to lie underground and it was believed that he was the one who first taught men to bury their dead; it was hence inferred that he was king of the infernal regions, whence sprung a belief that, as the souls of the dead descended to him, so when they were in his possession, he bound them in chains and delivered them to be tried by judges, after which he dispensed rewards and punishments according to their worthiness. Pluto was therefore called "the infernal Jupiter" and oblations were made to him by the living, for the souls of their friends or family departed.
Pluto was extremely revered both by the Greeks and Romans. He had a magnificent temple at Pylos. Near the river Corellus, in Bœotia, he had also an altar, for some mystical reason, in common with Pallas. His chief festival was in February and was called Charistia, because their oblations were made for the dead. Black bulls were the victims offered up, and the ceremonies were performed in the night, it not being lawful to sacrifice to him in the day time, on account of his aversion to the light. The cypress tree was sacred to Pluto, boughs of which were carried at funerals.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Son of Neptune[]
Hazel, his demigod daughter.
Pluto appears in a flashback during World War II in one of Hazel's blackouts. He appeared to visit his daughter for her birthday, giving her a set of colored pencils and a sketch pad. He also apologizes for her curse, which causes anyone that touches the stones she pulls from the ground to have bad luck, saying she must hate him for it.
While Hazel's mother originally blamed Pluto for Hazel's curse, it was actually her fault. Pluto had sworn on the River Styx to offer her anything, but in her greed she wished for all the riches of the Underworld. Pluto warned her to ask for anything else as the greediest wishes cause the most sorrow, but in the end he obeyed her wish, giving Hazel the ability to pull precious stones and metals from the ground.
When Thanatos is eventually freed, Hazel asks if her name is on the list of escaped souls. The god tells her 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 has contacted her. She replies in the negative, but it is better that Pluto did not go to see her because 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. It's suggested that he also chooses to ignore the Romans who came back to life during the battle as they remain alive as well.
The House of Hades[]
When looking down at the farmlands at the base of the Apennines Mountains, Hazel can't help but think of her father's realm below the earth. She also remembers that the first time she met Pluto, she didn't know who he was. She also thinks back on how Pluto never helped her, not during her first life, her time in the Underworld, or even after Nico di Angelo brought her back to life. Hazel wonders if Pluto is doing her a favor, as Thanatos told her that by ignoring her, Pluto can allow her to live. Despite contacting her dad being a bad thing, Hazel prays to him for help.
When Hazel controls Mist for the first time to defeat Sciron, Pluto comes in front of her and compliments her and also warns her that the witch she would be facing at the House of Hades would not be fooled easily and that her name was Pasiphaë. He also began to split into his Greek form and then disappears.
The Kane Chronicles[]
The Throne of Fire[]
Mad Claude complains that he and the other Romans can not enter the kingdom of Pluto because their bodies had been prepared for another kind of life after death.
Appearance[]
When Pluto appears in The Son of Neptune, he has greasy, black hair and is dressed in a dark suit with a black and platinum striped 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 wears a silver ring on his finger and his skin is pale, so much so that it is described as being almost blue, like cold milk. The god looks very much like Adolf Hitler, although he himself does not have a mustache and is clean shaven. His eyes are also very similar to his Greek form, being fiery, angry and full of mad power.
In The House of Hades, his tunic and toga are made of black wool with threads of gold and faces of tormented souls shifted in the fabric like Hades' robes. The edge of his toga was lined with the crimson of a senator or praetor, but the stripe rippled like a river of blood. His dark hair was close-cropped and wore a massive opal ring on his finger.
Personality[]
As Pluto, he becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike than he is as Hades. However, just like Hades he seems to care deeply for his children and any woman he falls in love with, being very protective of them. When first visiting his daughter Hazel, he apologized for her curse and offered her a present. He then went upstairs and tried to convince his current lover to stay where he could protect her and their child. Ironically, Pluto cares enough that he ignored his daughter's existence, allowing her to live because she was also one of the souls that escaped the Underworld.
Relationships[]
Lovers[]
Marie Levesque[]
Marie Levesque was a fortune teller that summoned Pluto. They fell in love and had a daughter together. Marie is the only known lover of Pluto.
Children[]
Hazel Levesque[]
Pluto greatly cares for his daughter. When he met Hazel on her thirteenth birthday, he gave her art supplies and apologized for her curse. After she is liberated from the Fields of Asphodel, he ignores her so that Hazel can have a chance at a life, however he comes to her and complements his daughter when she defeated Sciron.
Abilities[]
Pluto, being the god of the Underworld, wields dark and necromantic powers. He is one of the three strongest gods of Olympus and is rivaled only by his brothers Jupiter and Neptune, although Jupiter believes he is far above his brothers in raw power.
- He has the typical powers that a god can possess.
- Necromancy: As the ruler of the Underworld and god of the dead, he has divine authority and absolute control over the deceased.
- He can summon and control legions of the dead and zombie warriors.
- He can unleash endless waves of the dead to attack his enemies.
- He can control to a large extent the dead and spirits native to the Underworld.
- Umbrakinesis: As the god of the Underworld, he has absolute control over darkness and shadows.
- He can control darkness and shadows thus using them for concealment as well as attack.
- He can travel through shadows (Shadow Travel).
- He is a shape-shifter with the ability to transform himself into various fearsome demonic forms.
- Wields a Stygian Iron sword, capable of absorbing the essence or life-force of monsters and mortals respectively.
- He has the power to induce fear in people using his Helm of Darkness.
- Chrimatakinesis : As the god of wealth, he can manipulate and control the riches under the earth's surface.
- Ferrokinesis: Pluto can control precious metals.
- Geokinesis: As the god of the Underworld he has absolute control over the earth and the walls of the Underworld, Erebus.
- He can control the Earth (though to a lesser degree than Gaea as she is the personification of the Earth herself).
- He can curse people so that their soul will never leave their body and their body will turn to dust so that their soul will be lost.
Trivia[]
- Pluto's name is the Latinized form of the title Πλούτων (Greek Plouton, "The Rich One"), which was an epithet of Hades.
- The dwarf planet Pluto, once officially the smallest and farthest planet categorized, was named after him.
- His Egyptian equivalent is Osiris.
- His Norse equivalent is Hel.
- Pluto is the only Roman member of the Big Three to physically appear.
- After the death of Jason Grace, Pluto is also the only one of the Big Three to have living demigod offspring.
- His daughter Hazel noted similarities between him and Adolf Hitler, and since it was stated that the sons of Hades / Pluto headed the losers during World War II, this has led many readers to speculate that Hitler was his son. This theory was debunked when Rick Riordan declared that Hitler was not a demigod.
- His sons at the head of the losers could be Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito.
- Interestingly, despite the fact that Hazel and the Romans who came back to life in The Son of Neptune are only stated be allowed to remain that way because Pluto/Hades chooses to ignore them, he does not seem to take action against those who were resurrected by Gaea when the Doors of Death were open because the resurrected Lityerses remains alive after the war.