Hades



Hades (Άδης in Ancient Greek) is the god of the Underworld, wealth, and the dead, whose Roman couterpart is Pluto. He is the son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea and the husband of Persephone. He has two demigod children, Bianca and Nico di Angelo and has a mortal wife named Maria di Angelo. In some myths he is the father of Morpheus, the god of dreams.

[edit] History
Hades spent his childhood in his father's stomach, along with most of his brothers and sisters: Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera.

Hades was lonely, and wanted a wife. He spied Persephone one day, in the fields with her mother Demeter, and decided he would have her, admiring her. He soon fell in love with her, and plotted on how he would get her. After obtaining the permission of Zeus he decided to kidnap her. Persephone was innocently picking flowers with some Nymphs in a field in Enna when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Later, the Nymphs were changed by Demeter into the Sirens for not having interfered. Life came to a standstill as the devastated Demeter, goddess of the Harvest, searched everywhere for her lost daughter. Helios, the Titan god of the Sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened. She then stopped working the Earth, and the land didn't flourish. Hades was determined to make Persephone love him, and tried in many ways. She hated him at first, for snatching her away from her mother, but she soon reveled that her mother wasn't around, as she had never been away from her before. 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.

Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return to the Underworld for six months each year. This explains why we have winter. At some point Persephone came to respect and possibly even love Hades.

When Demeter and her daughter were united, the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the Underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. Thus, creating seasons.

[edit] Persephone
When Hades fell in love with Persephone, and kidnapped her, she did not want to stay with him, and wanted to be rescued, but 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 the first 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'. The nagging of Demeter increased with this action, but Persephone got to stay with her husband this way. She respects and loves 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, and of Maria di Angelo. Hades is apologetic about his girlfriends with Persephone, but she is displeased when they are mentioned. Hades marriage to her also means, ironically, that Zeus is his father-in-law.

[edit] 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 prophecy was set Hades distances himself even more from his siblings especially Zeus who he develops a grudge against. This is because the prophecy said that a child of the Big Three would destroy the Olympians so Zeus ordered Hades to hand over any of his children to Camp Half-Blood to be "trained" for there 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 where currently 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 mercy Hades offered on his children's part was to wipe their memories and hide them for there own protection in the Lotus casino.

His grudge with Zeus in part led to the first death of Thalia 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 angered by this and also possibly still angered by the death of Maria unleashed all the worst monsters in the Underworld to torment Thalia, leading to her sacrifice herself in order protect the other demigods she was traveling with. Though Zeus managed to keep Thalia from ending up in the Underworld by turning her into a tree.

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 Nico pointed out he was angry at the rest of his family for there treatment of him and he should prove himself to be more than what they thought of him. Despite this he does show some care for his siblings has he admitted to Kronos in the battle that if the Olympus was destroyed he would miss "bickering" with his brothers and sisters. He also told his father the one thing they could all agree on was that Kronos was a terrible father.

[edit] Mistress and children
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.

[edit] Mortal
In the Lightning Thief," Percy says that "the Lord of the Dead resembled pictures I'd seen of Napoleon, or Adolf Hitler, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same same kind off mesmerizing, evil charisma."
 * Bianca di Angelo (deceased)
 * Nico di Angelo
 * Adolf Hitler (implied)
 * Benito Mussolini (implied)
 * Hirohito/Emperor Showa (implied)
 * Napoleon Bonaparte (implied)

WWII was a big fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon and the sons of Hades. Hades' children (the Axis leaders) lost. Stalin fought with the Allies, against the Axis, in WWII.

[edit] Immortal
With Persephone - Macaria, In some traditions also Plutus, Zagreus and Melinoe

[edit] 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. 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.