Thread by @argetcross

OKAY HERE'S MY BIG GREEK MYTH REFERENCES THREAD FOR THE HADES 2 TRAILER

First off, Hekate is using her twin torches, something she does in fact have in her Ancient Greek depictions, which she used against the giant Clytius here (1/?)

#hades2 #HadesGame #Hades

Hekate is the goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, necromancy, the restless dead, liminal spaces, magic- the list goes on and on! She, like Hermes, has SUPER strong associations with the Underworld, and shows up in a tale familiar to Hades fans, the Abduction of Persephone- (2/?)

Namely she is Demeter's guide through her search for her daughter and the one that hears Persephone's cries when she is taken. When Persephone becomes the Queen of the Underworld and the whole seasons deal is struck, Hekate becomes Persephone's companion and minister! (3/?)

Makes sense then, why the circle and her clothes have the sigil of the Underworld! There's also moon symbols throughout, as she is associated with Artemis and Selene). The heads on her shoulders are from her imagery as a tripartite goddess (a goddess of three bodies)- (4/?)

What about the other gods in the trailer? Apollo's design has him with his laurels (a nod to Daphne), his lyre bow (he is also the god of music and poetry), and a long skirt (Anatolian origins?). Apollo is supposed to represent youth, so no beard is par for the course. (5/?)

Slight detour, the pose Melinoe has here reminds me of how Ancient Greek prayer to the gods usually looks (hands outstretched, holding up to the sky). Don't know if this is a coincidence but it'd be a cool one if it's intentional!!! (6/?)

Nemesis! Another child of Nyx, she's briefly mentioned in Hades (you get her Aspect and Thanatos says she's busy dealing justice on the surface). Nemesis deals specifically in crimes against the gods (aka hubris), punishing mortals for their arrogance and trespasses. (7/?)

Specifically she usually delivers the justice of Zeus, so her role is different than the Furies. She has two wings and the spiked wheel on her arm is the wheel of justice, rolling those from high points to low points. (8/?)

I want to say the patterns and the fringe remind me of Scythian or Amazon clothing but I'm less sure on that one. It'd fit her sort of warrior of the surface look. (9/?)

There's little information on Moros, the god that drives men to their inevitable doom. He's listed in the Theogony as a child of Nyx and Prometheus replaces him with Elpis (false hope) so humankind can live on (the Pandora myth!). His tattoos here are also very Scythian. (10/?)

Which ties neatly into the appearance of Dora (Pandora, if you will) here! I guess since she opened the pithos (not a box but a jar!) and all the world's evils got out, she's been chilling here afterwards??? We'll see!!! (11/?)

And last but certainly not least, TIME TO TALK ABOUT MELINOE! There's not too much, like Zagreus, she's barely a character in myth and only appears in the Orphic Hymns. Like how Zag was the first form of Dionysus, Melinoe might be another version of Hekate. (12/?)

She's a goddess who wanders the earth with ghosts at night and she's described in Hymn 71 as "partly black thy limbs and partly white, from Plouton dark, from Zeus ethereal bright", a dual chthonic and olympic nature. We can see she is asymmetrical in her arms here! (13/?)

She's a child of Persephone and Hades and I think the sickle here might actually be a callback to Kronos' sickle of adamant? I'm not sure what the dagger is referring to though, might just be a fun other weapon for dual wielding! (14/?)

FINALLY the OG Bad Dad. Not Hades, but Kronos! He is the Titan of Time who overthrew his tyrant father Ouranos and became the King of the Heavens, for a short while! Because of a prophecy that foretold him being overthrown by his own children, Kronos became paranoid and- (15/?)

- ate his kids. This went on until Rhea, his wife, was so grief-stricken that she hid baby Zeus and gave him the Omphalos rock (the navel of Gaia) to swallow instead! Then when Zeus grew up, he freed his swallowed siblings, the Cyclops and Hekatonkheires and - (16/?)

- they all went to war against the Titans! The Titanomachy ended with the Olympians driving the Titans beneath Tartarus, imprisoning them for all eternity, making the Olympians the rulers of the cosmos, splitting the realms, and leading to Hades getting the Underworld! (17/?)

For Hades' imprisonment, the shackles here are likely similar to the inescapable shackles of Death that Sisyphus once tricked Thanatos with.

And that's all my insights! Thanks so much for reading and see you all.... on the SURFACE!!! 🔥🔥🔥 (18/18)

Wow this blew up😳 Guess I should promote?

If you like Ancient Greek myth and Hades, I have a Zag Mortal AU fic where Zag becomes a mortal and goes on adventures through Greece. There are footnotes!

archiveofourown.org/works/26832964

Also learn more about myth at theoi.com!