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So, I just finished watching Lost Girl, and the big antagonist of the series was Hades. The Greek God of the underworld, Hades. There is no denying that Hades is supposedly the evilest being in existence, but after a lot of crying and a lot of ice-cream (because of the ending of Lost Girl), I wanted to explore a little bit more of the myths surrounding him. Let’s get stuck in as “We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What do you say? Come on.”

Hades was the first child born to Cronus and Rhea, he and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, battled their father and the Titans to end Cronus’s reign. This meant that they shared the role; Zeus was the God of the skies, Poseidon, God of the sea and Hades, God of the Underworld. Hades had many names, this proves that he wasn’t seen as all evil; Some of these names include: Aides or Aidoneus (The Unseen One and The Invisible), Plouton, the wealth giver, Euboueus, wise in counsel, Klymenos, the renowned and the one that surprised me the most, Polydegmon, the Hospitable. Hades was however said to be “pitiless, loathsome and monstrous” by Homer and Hesiod. Mortals even sacrificed others in honor for Hades!

Hades name means the Unseen One and not only was Hades his name, but he shared it with the realm of the dead that he guarded. Famously, Hades ran the underworld and the reason that this place was also called the Unseen One, is because it is the invisible world. Hades was also a God with not only the Greeks, but also the Romans; however, he is known as Pluto in the Roman Myths. Just like Christians today, the Romans and Greeks rarely mentioned the underworld for fear and blasphemy. Hades even made an appearance in the New Testament, that was originally written in Greek, it is after this period when the underworld became known as Hell. Hades may have been God of the underworld, but he was not God of taking lives, that was reserved for Thanatos.

Hades was a bad man, there is no debate in that, but he was very generous with lending out his belongings; he did have a helmet that made the wearer invisible and let Athena and Perseus use it at one point.

Hades and his wife.

Hades married Persephone, who was the daughter Demeter. Just like in any ancient story with Gods and Goddesses, Persephone was the niece of Hades, (as Demeter was his sister) [but she does become Queen of the underworld; so silver lining? Oh, that hurt just trying to put a positive spin on it].

Hades found (or stole) his wife when he went above ground. The only reason that Hades would travel above ground was to see Persephone. Hades fell in love with his niece, but she wouldn’t fall that quickly and Hades decided that the only way to gain her love was to kidnap her. The story goes that one day Persephone was gathering flowers with her friends. While walking, a flower appeared in front of her feet. After pulling it from the ground, Hades arose and took her away in his Golden Chariot. Only Hekate, Goddess of ghosts and pathways and Helios, God of the sun, could hear the cries of Persephone from the Underworld.

Demeter, as any mother would be, was heartbroken and sick with worry. She’d stopper eating and was wandering around trying to find her daughter. Nine days later Hakate told Demeter what happened to Persephone and Demeter ran from Olympus and joined mortals as a protest against the Gods who wouldn’t help her. Demeter was the goddess of fertility though, and she was needed. The Earth had become dry and infertile, this made the other Gods terrified that it would kill the mortals.

Hades was pretty much a recluse and would very rarely leave the underworld. He was the only one of the Gods to live out of Mount Olympus. He was feared by men and unwelcomed by Gods. He was even banished by Zeus for trying to claim the skies.

So, after a year Zeus and the rest of the Gods begged and pleaded with Demeter, but to no avail. When this plan fell through Zeus sent Hermes (the man with the wing shoes and the messenger for Mount Olympus) to bargain with Hades and get Persephone back. Hades agreed to bargain; but, there was a catch, Persephone could only return if she hadn’t eaten any of the food Hades had provided her with. Hades had managed to trick Persephone into eating a pomegranate seed before she left the Underworld.

Now it was Hades turn to make a deal. Persephone was to spend two-thirds of the year with Demeter and two-years with Hades in his realm. The months when Persephone is away, it’s said that Demeter goes into hiding and this is the reason that we have winter.

What Hades did was dreadful and unforgivable in today’s standards; but, compared to the other Gods and Goddesses living in their house in the sky, it was hardly a scratch.

One of the stories involving Persephone and Hades, is that of Pirithous. Pirithous wanted to take Persephone for his own. He was so determined in-fact, that he journeyed to the underworld to steal her away from Hades; but Hades was smart and managed to stop Pirithous and made him forget everything. Hercules came to the rescue, but Hades refused to let Pirithous go.   

Hades and the River Styx

Hermes (the messenger who I mentioned earlier) was the one who lead souls to the Underworld. He travelled to the river Styx to the boatman with the souls of the deceased. The boatman was named Charon and it was he who would take the souls to the gates of Hades. Cerberus would be at the gates to greet the dead, and this was when the dead would be taken to Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aiakos to be judged. The good would drink the water of the River Lethe, where they would forget all the bad things that plagued them in life, the they went to Elysian Fields (the heaven of the Underworld). The bad were given over to the Furies and taken to Tartarus, the lowest reaches of Hades. Here they would here receive punishment for all their crimes in life. There was even a third-tier to this. These were the ones who had offended the Gods. They were condemned to eternal torment.

The Eternal Torments

You know, I thought having to go to Uni was bad, but Hades saved the worst till last. When mortals offended Gods, they were made to go through the most grueling tasks. Sisyphus, was made to push a rock up a hill forever, Oknos had to plait the end of a rope while a donkey ate the other end and the daughters of Danaus had to fill a sieve with water.

Hercules and Hades

The most famous of heroes to visit Hades was Hercules. He didn’t just visit Hades once, but quite a few times in fact. In the 12 Challenges, Hercules had to go to Hades to capture Cerberus; Hades and Hercules didn’t fight, but instead had a very civil conversation and persuades the God to let him borrow the three-headed dog. Another meeting for the two happened when Hercules had to save Alcestis from the Underworld, which led Hercules on the hunt for the Golden Fleece with Jason and the Argonauts shortly after; then of course, you have the time when he was sent to save Persephone from Hades grasp.

Dependent on how you look at it, the legend of Hades and the Underworld cemented and shaped our beliefs today. The legend of Hades still plays a huge role in pop culture today with references to him in Xena, Warrior Prince, Mass Effect, Lost Girl, Disney Movies, Smallville and Percy Jackson.

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