HADES THE GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD

Family of Hades

Parents: Hades was a child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
Siblings: Hades had five older siblings. Two brothers (Zeus, Poseidon), and three sisters (Hestia, Hera and Demeter).
Wife: Persephone, whom he abducted from his sister Demeter and took with him down to the Underworld.


Hades, the Ruler of the Underworld

Hades was the Greek god of the Dead and, according to Plato, he should be considered as one of the Olympian gods. Hades was the supreme ruler of the Underworld. Almost never did he leave his gloomy kingdom but was residing there instead, surrounded by darkness and silence...
Hades helper was Charos, the angel of dead. Charos had the duty to transfer the souls of the dead with a boat over the River Acheron from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Furthermore, Hades had a dog with three heads which was named Cerberus.


Appearance of Hades

Hades had gloomy features. He had a beard and dark hair falling over his brow.


Symbols of Hades

The sacred symbol of Hades was his helmet, which helped him stay invisible. His sacred animal was Cerberus, his own three-headed dog.



CERBERUS


     Cerberus was the offspring of Echidna, a hybrid half-man and half-serpent, and Typhon, a fire-breathing giant whom even the Greek gods feared. Its brother is Orthrus, always depicted as a two-headed hellhound.The common depiction of Cerberus in Greek mythology and art is as having three heads. In most works the three-heads each respectively see and represent the past, the present, and the future, while other sources suggest the heads represent birth, youth, and old age.
   
     Each of Cerberus heads is said to have an appetite only for live meat and thus allow only the spirits of the dead to freely enter the underworld, but allow none to leave.Cerberus was always employed as Hades loyal watchdog, and guarded the gates that granted access and exit to the underworld (also called Hades).



History

     Hades is the eldest son of the Titans, Kronos and Rhea as well as the third of their children. He was consumed immediately after birth by Kronos who was paranoid that he would be overthrown by one of his own children . Hades thus spent his childhood in his father's stomach along with his brother, Poseidon, and his sisters: Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. During the Titanomachy, he proved to be a ferocious warrior and greatly aided in the ultimate downfall of Kronos and his followers. Although it was Hades birthright to be named his father's successor, he agreed to divide the Titan King's former domain with his brothers and acquiesced, albeit resentfully, to taking the Underworld as his prize.

     Hades was the first god to fight Typhon when he woke up the first time. He came out of the Underworld with Cerberus and met Chiron and some heroes on the Earth's surface. Cerberus did not want to fight his father so he stepped down, but Hades continued. Wearing his Helm of Darkness he started attacking the monster, but finally it fell of his head and he was immobilized. He had to stay there and wouldn't help the Olympians against him (in the same Eon) again.

     Although he distanced himself from his family, Hades was lonely and wanted a wife to fill the void. One day, he spotted a young goddess named Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, whose great beauty and tender countenance won his admiration. Hades decided to take her as his bride despite his estrangement with her parents and his siblings, Demeter and Zeus. Hades secretly received Zeus blessing but he knew that their overprotective sister would refuse to even consider the marriage and so promptly kidnapped Persephone. He then proceeded to woo the distressed goddess with gifts but eventually won her heart through empathy and kindness.

     A distraught and grief stricken Demeter soon caused the earth to become barren when she learned of the abduction and furiously blamed Zeus for allowing Hades to court Persephone behind her back. Pressured by mortal prayers and the other gods, Zeus demanded that the lord of the dead return his daughter. Hades refused to lose his wife so easily and persuaded Persephone to eat six pomegranate seeds which would ensure that she returned to him for six months of each year.



Abilities


     Hades is the god of the Underworld and thus wields dark and necromantic powers. He is one of the three strongest gods of Olympus and is rivaled only by Zeus and Poseidon.

• He has the ultimate powers that a god can possess.
• Necromancy: He can summon and control legions of the dead and zombie warriors.
• He can unleash endless waves of the dead or dark souls to maul or destroy his opponents.
• Umbrakinesis: He can control darkness and shadows thus using them for concealment as well as attack. In the past, he used this ability to protect his demigod children from the wrath of Zeus' Master Bolt by shielding them in an orb of shadow.
• He can control to a large extent the dead and spirits native to the Underworld.
• Nega-Ergokinesis: He can create and control dark energy (form of black fireballs, dark energy balls, blasts and lightning)
• Enhanced Shapeshifting: He is a shapershifter with the ability to transform himself into various fearsome demonic forms (as shown in film).
• Lifeforce Absorption: Wields a Stygian sword, capable of absorbing the essence or life-force of monsters and mortals respectively.
• Fear Inducement: He has the power to use fear as a weapon.
• Ferrokinesis: His Roman counterpart has the power to manipulate and control the riches under the earth's surface.
• Subterranean Geokinesis: He can control the earth (though possibly on a lesser degree than Gaea as she is the primordial goddess of earth and all earth is her domain).