Hades the Monstrous

Hades the Monstrous is the Hades from God of War.

Greek Mythology
Hades was the ancient Greek god of the Underworld. The genitive was an elision to denote locality; eventually the nomative came to designate the abode of the dead.

In Greek mythology, Hades was the oldest child of Cronos and Rhea. According to myth, he and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans in battle and took over rulership of the cosmos; ruling the underworld, air, and sea, respectively; the solid earth, the long province of Gaia, was available to all three concurrently.

He was also called "Plouton" (Greek: meaning "Rich One"), a name which the Romans Latinized as Pluto. The Romans would associate Hades/Pluto with their own chthonic gods, Dis Pater and Orcus. The corresponding Etruscan gods was Aita.

Symbols associated with him are the Helm of Darkness and the three-headed dog, Cerberus.

The term hades in Christian theology (and in the New Testament Greek) is parallel to hebrew sheol (grave or dirt-pit), and refers to the abode of the dead. The Christian concept of hell is more akin to and communicated by the Greek concept of Tartarus, a deep, gloomy part of Hades used as a dungeon of torment and suffering.

The First Titanomachy
Hades appears in cut scenes in God of War II, depicting the Great War, when the Gods defeated Titans. He is seen fighting and imprisoning Atlas alongside his brother, Poseidon. There is a statue of him in the Garden of the Gods along with Athena, Ares, Zeus, Helios, and Poseidon. At the end of the game he is seen with Poseidon, Helios and Hermes standing in front of Zeus, before the second Great War begins. Also when he's fighting Cronos, Atlas comes and uses a ground attack on Hades. Then Hades manages to take Atlas's soul within him.

Wager of the Gods
In the comics, Hades is seen in flashbacks competing in the wager of the Gods, a contest in which Gods choose various mortals as their champions, with the goal being the capture of the healing elixir known as Ambrosia. Hades chose Alrik, a warrior who sought to capture the Ambrosia in order to save his ill father, as his champion. After which, in fear that Kratos may best his champion, Hades sent a torrent of great fires from the sky onto Kratos' army. However, he was still unable to kill Kratos. After Alrik was defeated by Kratos and torn apart by Rocs, Hades revived him and sent him to destroy the Spartan who defied him. After being saved from death, Alrik then discovered that his beloved father had died, and so, the new Barbarian King vowed to exact vengeance onto Kratos.

Persephone's Betrayal
In Chains of Olympus, one of the final challenges is called Challenge of Hades. Hades himself does not appear, although Kratos does enter his realm of dead, the Underworld. Hades does, however, play a background role, as husband to Persephone, the main antagonist of the game. Persephone doesn't love him, but is forced to remain in his dark realm. Because of this, she had chosen to end both her life and that of the gods by freeing Atlas and commanding him to destroy the Pillar of the World.

Aiding Kratos
In God of War, he manifests in Pandora's Temple in a translucent form, like the other gods, and gives Kratos a magic called the Army of Hades. Only his fiery, demonic face is seen. There is also a giant statue of him in the section of the Temple called The Challenge of Hades, as well as another statue of Hades alongside Zeus and Poseidon in Pandora's Box's Elevator.

Moving in Shadows
While Hades doesn't appear in Betrayal, he is, again, a background character. When Kratos starts chasing the mysterious Assassin, the Undead Legionnaires and Cerberus appear from Underworld to stop him. Kratos wondered why Hades sent these beasts to attack him, speculating that Hades is the one who is plotting to ruin Kratos' relationship with the other gods. This would have made sense, since Hades already had a legitimate reason to hate Kratos for the death of his wife Persephone.

The Second Titanomachy
Hades is first seen amongst the congregation of Gods on Mt. Olympus, dropping down to join Hermes and Helios in battle against the Titans scaling the mountain. He is briefly seen dislodging Oceanus from the mountain after Kratos disabled one of the Leviathans attacking Gaia.

Kratos encounters Hades personally in the Underworld, who seeks to prevent him from escaping again. After first entering, Hades periodically comments Kratos' actions, often in a sarcastic, humorous or taunting tone of voice. As soon as Kratos enters his Palace, Hades takes a more hostile stand, claiming he senses "some bad blood" between them. Before the battle, Hades reminds Kratos how he has wronged him in the past, by killing Athena, Poseidon, and especially Persephone. Hades then threatens, "I will see you suffer as I have suffered! Your soul is mine!".

Emerging from complete darkness, Hades immediately attempts to steal Kratos' soul, but fails. An intense battle ensues, during which Kratos and Hades do battle with their respective chain blades. Eventually, the blades become entangled, and Hades attempted to pull Kratos into the River Styx. Eventually, Kratos gains the upper hand and uses both weapons to form a noose around Hades' neck, repeatedly slamming his head into the ceiling and knocking him into the River Styx. From this, Kratos obtains the Claws of Hades. Eventually, a significantly bigger Hades bursts out of the river, no longer sporting his helmet, revealing a deformed, devilish, cracked skull. Kratos finally manages to kill Hades by ripping out his soul, using his own Claws. As Hades' rule of the Underworld lifts, the tormented souls of the Styx swarm over Hades, dragging him into the depths of the river. Kratos, in possession of Hades' soul, is now free to traverse the River Styx unharmed. After diving into the river, the godly possesion, Hades' helmet, can be retrieved at the bottom, near the point of entry. It then becomes available during Bonus Play. Before leaving, Hades' corpse can be seen at the bottom of the Styx, mutilated, as the tormented souls tore a passage through his gut to escape the river. Swimming through Hades' now open torso, Kratos follows them and returns to Hephaestus' forge.

Powers and Abilities
Like all gods, Hades was immortal and invincible to certain forms of attacks. Hades could also shapeshift, which he demonstrated during his battle with Kratos, as he increased his size throughout the battle. As a god, Hades has super strength. His power is rivalled only by his brothers Zeus and Poseidon.

As the ruler of the Underworld, Hades had a good deal of control over the souls of the dead, to the degree where he was able to gift them to worthy mortals. While Kratos traversed the dangers of Pandora’s Temple, Hades gifted him with the souls of the Underworld to aid him in his journey. These souls are much stronger if they are summoned from the deepest depths of Tartarus. These souls literally mauled Kratos’ enemies to death, or weakened them enough for him to finish them off.

Hades also carried the Claws of Hades, duel hook-ended chain-blades with the power of tearing the souls from any living being, including a Titan. They are depicted as being a set of spiked chains with two hooks glowing purple at the end of each. Hades is "draped" in them, and they are embodied with his magic powers. Using the magic stored within the chains, Hades can pull out the soul of his enemies. By absorbing souls, they allow Hades to become stronger, something he even references whilst battling Kratos, as he taunts him by stating his soul will only make him stronger. These chains are extremely lethal weapons as they allow Hades to attack at short and long distances. They glow with a dark purplish aura indicating the number of souls that it has absorbed. By absorbing countless souls, the chains' attack power increases as well as the speed. Hades has the ablity to summon legions of the undead as well as a wide array of undead beasts using the Claws' power. The chains were a very powerful part of Hades' arsenal, and with them he defeated many Titans in the War. Free from certain limitations from his helmet, Hades could also use a powerful breath attack.

Personality
Unlike his brother Zeus and many of the other Gods of the series, Hades is mostly unconcerned with the affairs of the mortal realm, preferring to focus his energies on the Underworld. He is, however, quick to anger if someone crosses him or his family, which makes him an enemy of Kratos. As Kratos is traveling through his palace, Hades comments that there is bad blood between them, as Kratos had murdered his niece (Athena) and his brother (Poseidon), which cannot go unpunished. He also appeared to have deeply cared for Persephone, despite her words and treachery. Indeed, he has restored her remains and created a massive memorial to her. He doesn't, however, comment on the loss of his nephew Ares, indicating that Hades, much like the other gods, did not care much for Ares.

Hades has a sinister, mock-playful humor, evident in the way he taunts and intimidates Kratos throughout the Underworld. This is similar to the mythological Hades, who often gave out ironic punishments to particularly unfortunate souls. He also appears to be a masochist, as even when Kratos beats him senseless, he claims to enjoy the pain.

Gifts and Objects

 * Army of Hades: Given to Kratos after defeating Pandora's Guardian.
 * Shield of Hades: Used in Pandora's Temple, with the Shield of Zeus, to progress further into the temple.
 * Claws of Hades: After Kratos bashes Hades' head through the ceiling, he takes away his claws, using them to extract his soul and exacting his revenge.
 * Hades' Helm: Swimming down the river of Styx to the very bottom at point of entry, and retrieving the Helm, will grant use of this Godly Possession in Bonus Play.