Hades: God of the Underworld

 

Hades is one of the most infamous and well-known names in all of Greek Mythology. He is the eldest son of Cronos and Rhea when speaking of the chronological order they were birthed by Rhea. (Sometimes, people will account by the order in which they were regurgitated by Cronos, in which case, he would be the youngest of his siblings as he was the first to be eaten.) Hades is one of the big three, along with his brothers; Zeus and Poseidon. He is the king of the Underworld, and God of the dead. Hades was married to the Greek goddess, Persephone, though not of her own accord. He abducted Persephone and forced her into marriage by tricking her into eating while in the Underworld after her abduction, which would compel her to have to return for a certain period of time every year.

          There are several portrayals of what Hades was said to be like, though, two are the most common. Many accounts would say that Hades was cruel and, well, downright evil. The typical reasoning behind the negative connotation of Hades being “evil” would be the usual discomfort with the mention of death. Any man who rules the world of death where souls mourn for eternity would have to be some kind of sadist, right? That is not necessarily true. Some myths and fables claim Hades was envious of his brothers and bitter of his banishment to the Underworld. He believed it unfair that he would have to spend eternity in the Underworld, babysitting the whining souls of the deceased. While these assumptions are logical given Hades’ situation and could very well be true, he was also described as a very passive God.

          Hades was considered to be, what can only be described as, altruistic in mythology. Hades wasn’t necessarily “evil” (Though he had quite a short temper, much like his brothers). He was actually considered to be quite passive and sort of…mellow for the most part. He was in the Underworld as more of an overseer to make sure everything stayed balanced and there was no sparking of chaos.

Though Hades was the sole ruler of the Underworld, he was assisted by a few subjects. Obviously, Hades had complete and utter control over these assistants. Hades forbade his subjects to leave his realm and would become absolutely furious when anyone even attempted to escape. He was also very hostile whenever someone tried to steal the souls from his realm. You could say that Hades was quite possessive over his souls. Anyone who ever tried to cheat him or death would find themselves in a very dangerous situation.

Hades was very much feared by living people. When his “cults” would restrain from ever using his name. People tended to use euphemisms to divert their fears. Basically, Hades is a lot like Voldemort, A.K.A. “He who shall not be named.” Saying Hades’ name aloud was kind of a no-no.  When they made sacrifices to him, they would avert their faces.

 

Hades rarely left the Underworld. Hades was not, in all actuality, an evil God. He was often considered to be stern, cruel, and unpitying, but that could be said of many other Gods. Hades was so much more feared and hated because people associated him with Death. Though he contained the souls in the Underworld once they had perished, he himself was not death. He was often associated with death itself, as the cause, but the daemon of death was actually Thanatos.

 

          When imagining the Underworld, it is often seen as a dark and gloomy place filled with despair and the shrieking and moaning of mourning souls. What is often forgotten is, the Underworld isn’t like Hell where everyone there is meant to be punished: It is not that every single perished soul is sent to a purgatory for all of eternity. There were different sections of the Underworld for different people of different purposes.

          In cinematic portrayals of Hades such as; Hercules and Percy Jackson: Lightening Thief, Hades is portrayed as the more common bitter and spiteful, even greedy God. It seems that modern movies and literary works have the “evil” Hades while classic Greek Mythology wasn’t typically set that way. I believe that Hades is most commonly portrayed that way in modern times because it makes things more interesting. There is no need for a mellow and mundane ruler of the Underworld. Stories need an antagonist to make them interesting, and who better to create problems than the God of the dead?