- Charon says (via Melinoe translating) that Hypnos is of greater use asleep, although it might just be a dig at his somnolent brother...
- Zagreus will be this game's version of Thanatos, showing up to help with a randomly chosen Zagreus Aspected Weapon.
- Jossed. There is a god who does this, but it's Artemis. (And Icarus).
- Zagreus will be this game's version of Meg, the first boss, showing up with a randomly chosen Zagreus Aspected weapon and speedrunners WILL LEARN TO FUCKING LOATHE HIM!
- Jossed as far as being the first boss is concerned... But there is a god who does this: Eris, wielding Exagryph in her Aspect.
- Zagreus will be this game's version of Thanatos, showing up to help with a randomly chosen Zagreus Aspected Weapon.
- Chronos has a spell to send Melinoe to Hades-era Asphodel, so we could end up running into him on one of his escapes.
- Seemingly confirmed in the tech preview; whatever happened to Hades, Zag and Persephone also disappeared alongside him.
- Fully confirmed in Early Access.
- Confirmed as of Early Access. To train her to avenge her family who were all captured.
- Asclepius: The god of medicine. Could grant status effect immunity as well as bolstered healing abilities.
- Nike: The goddess of victory. Perhaps this could have snowballing effects where Melinoe gets stronger the more bosses she's defeated in a single run.
- Iris, goddess of rainbows and messenger. She could function similarly to Hermes.
- Hephaestus, god of the forge, either as someone focused around straightforward buffs to your base stats or a mechanic similar to Daedalus's hammers.
- Confirmed; he appears as a boon-granting Olympian, with a focus seemingly on tanking and dishing out massive hits.
- Hera, goddess of marriage. She could have a mechanic where you get massive buffs after taking damage as a reference to her constant attempts at seeking revenge after Zeus's many infidelities.
- Confirmed in Early Access; she grants boons after you make it to the surface. The mechanic is jossed though; her status curse lets you deal damage to all marked enemies at once.
- Hestia, goddess of the hearth and the home. She could be an inversion to Demeter's boons, instead granting Melinoe fire-based abilities.
- Confirmed, including the fire.
- Both Hera and Hestia are especially likely, given that unlike the situation with Zagreus, their father is now involved. Hestia's assistance here would make more sense than in the first game, since Melinoe's goal is to safe her father (and probably protect the Underworld/her home in the process), unlike Zag, who tried to break out of it.
- Demeter could also show up in summer mood, granting fire abilities - which would also give a convenient explanation for Persephone's absence: she's currently stuck on Mount Olympus. This would leave defense boons for Hestia.
- Fire-based Demeter is jossed; she's back to grant more boons but she retains her winter theming from the first game.
- Morpheus: God of Sleep and Dreams, his attacks could likely have a stunning or disorienting effect on enemies, or a debuff that makes them move and attack slower.
- Pan, god of the wilderness. He could give Melinoe's attacks a poison debuff like Dionysus.
- While he hasn't appeared in person, one of the aspects for the Sister Blades belongs to him.
- Eris, goddess of strife, who had an Aspect of the Rail in the first game.
- Her presence got confirmed in Early Access, but she "helps" you out by giving you a debuff.
- She's also a boss.
- Her presence got confirmed in Early Access, but she "helps" you out by giving you a debuff.
- Chaos from the first game will return to support Melinoë, but will be the only one to do so out of the deities from the first game.
- Chaos' presence is Confirmed in Early Access, but numerous deities have returned from the first game, so that part is jossed.
- One of the nine Muses, such as Calliope, Orpheus's mom, or Terpsichore, the muse of dance and presumably dance battling.
- Pasithea, Hypnos' wife and goddess of rest, relaxation, and hallucinations.
- Odysseus and Circe: Circe is, by far, the quintessential witch in Greek mythology, and is an absolute shoo-in for a story focused around witches, even without being the very daughter of Hecate. Odysseus is unquestionably linked to her, and with his fellow heroes of the Trojan War Achilles and Patroclus appearing in the previous game, as well as him potentially being Skelly, it's not out of the question that he'd appear here.
- Confirmed; Odysseus is one of the characters you can talk to in the Crossroads, and Circe appears in Early Access.
- Jason and Medea.
- Medea confirmed in Early Access; she's on the surface.
- Perseus, to contrast Medusa's implied prominence in the first game.
- Prometheus
- Heracles should be a no-brainer, given that he's the most famous Greek Hero; bonus points if his appearance also allows for the presence of Prometheus, as it was Heracles who freed him during his labors.
- Confirmed in early access; he's on the surface.
- Atalante, as a stand-in for Thanatos.
- Castor and Pollux/Polydeuces, who could be a Dual Boss for Melinoë.
- Tiresias, the blind seer who was part of several important Greek myths and could be tied with the themes of prophecy and fate from the last game. Melinoë could meet him in Asphodel, and it'd be an interesting reference to The Odyssey, in which Odysseus also meets Tiresias' soul in the Underworld to consult his prophetic abilities.
- Alternatively, it was Hyperion, who Hades notes in the first game to be even worse than his own father.
- Confirmed: She's the first boss.
- Given the catastrophic scale of Chronos' plans if you fail and his control over time, maybe Melinoe can use the latter against him to trap them both in a loop until she wins.
- Jossed, it's a binding spell to hold enemies in place for a short time.
- This seems too obvious to be incorrect. It even uses the same naming pattern as Dusa (ie just dropping the first syllable).
- Achilles and Patroclus: They helped Zagreus, now they'll help Melinoe.
- They could be the current champions of Elysium, becoming the boss for that region (assuming it returns in any way).
- Charon: The underworld literally can't function without him, so he'd be around. You also have new siblings of his to snark about him.
- Confirmed. Charon returns to run his shop, but the upheaval of the Underworld has affected him too; the shop looks less put together and Poseidon snips that he's "turned to the life of piratical smuggler".
- Dusa: Perhaps as a brief or extended cameo in the Underworld, lamenting how quiet things have gotten after the royal family was captured.
- Nyx: Can't imagine that Chronos can do much to her. Or perhaps he can and she was captured alongside Hades?
- Chaos: Chronos definitely can't touch them. They'll likely serve the same role they did originally.
- Confirmed; they're back in the same role as the first game.
- Megaera (and her sisters): Whether Chronos would even want to go after the Furies (since he probably wouldn't see them as a threat) is unclear, but if they're present, they'd probably act as both allies and obstacles to Melinoe, just as they did for her brother.
- One of the Arcana cards is named "The Furies", but it remains to be seen whether they'll make an in-person appearance.
- Thanatos: Because time cannot stop death.
- Jossed. There's a scene where the player takes control of Hades just as Chronos takes over, and Thanatos is among the people Chronos has frozen. (He's behind and slightly to the left of Achilles.)
- Orpheus could potentially reappear since he's also said to be a magician in mythology, even creating temples of Hecate.
- Artemis: she'll return not as a god that delivers boons, but an NPC in the hub world that Melinoe can speak with. This is justified by Artemis's nature as a hunter who spends most of her time away from Olympus with her companions. Also now that Apollo is a boon-giver, she can have some snarky dialogue towards her brother should the topic come up.
- Confirmed: She assists Mel as an old friend in the middle of the first area, in a role similar to Thanatos.
- Confirmed; Dora calls her Mel and Icarus calls her Meli.
- Nothing has been explained about the arm as of early access, but it keeping Melinoe from being hurt by the surface is jossed. It still hurts Melinoe just as it does Zag, and it's an incantation of Melinoe's own that lets her stay on the surface for a while, which you have to unlock and buy in-game.
- Actually, a conversation with Icarus indicates that she got it when she was trying to use the cauldron to help him and the spell went awry; a related conversation with Hecate says it's a result of Melinoe overextending herself.
- Partially confirmed as Hecate is identified as a third generation Titan and Selene, Titaness and Goddess of the Moon, is an staunch ally of Melinoe.
- Jossed by the technical preview; the Narrator from the first game returns.
- And he's definitely Homer.
- Any of the Olympians except maybe Hestia.
- Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon at the same time.
- Nyx or Thanatos.
- Atlas, or any of the other Titans.
- Zagreus
- The Typhon
- Echidna
- Pirithous, Theseus' companion who tried to abduct Persephone and got eternally glued to a chair
- Orthrus, Cerberus's brother
- Semi-jossed; Asphodel is still same the Lethal Lava Land it was in Hades, but that's becasuse it 'is' the same Asphodel as in the first game.
- Jossed. She was born in the Underworld and taken to the Crossroads just afterwards. Her making it to the surface is actually in defiance of the Fates — Moros tells her an incantation that lets her do it.
- The first game established the Titans were scattered in pieces, with Hyperion punched out of history, but Zag's domains are blood and life. Chronos used his escapades to very slowly regenerate himself, maybe speeding up the process with his time powers.
- In the vision of the past, Chronos does mention that he was brought back thanks to blood sacrifices. He does not specify whose blood it was.
- Alternatively, it might be Eris.
- Confirmed by the Technical Preview; Erebus is the first section of the game, much like Tartarus is in the first game.
- Also, Erebus is in the first game too; it's the place you go to do infernal gates or fight Charon.
- Jossed. She was born in the Underworld.
- Partially confirmed: Hades can be found as a random encounter in the final area, and will give Melinoë a choice of boons (these Boons don't use the Boiling Blood mechanic however, just provide benefits against Chronos). Persephone hasn't been confirmed as of Early Access.
- Alternatively, Cerberus's two-headed brother Orthrus will be the dog to dread.
- Confirmed, but not of his own will; Chronos corrupts him into a hostile monster. Thankfully he gets better.
- There's also an icon in the inventory that shows the phase of the moon, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.
- Confirmed of a sort; one of the hexes from Selene lets you turn into a "living nightmare" with a unique set of moves. She can also recruit wandering spirits by sprinting into them.
- Medea. We already have a witch boss fight with Hecate, but it would still be thematically appropriate
- Circe. See above.
- Jossed as to Medea and Circe; both are random encounters in Ephyra and Thessaly respectively.
- Hades' companion room in Tartarus looks like it's Sisyphus' room — same shape and Bouldy in the back covered in moss — so Sisyphus has at the very least gone elsewhere in the disarray.
Even more so when going Melinoë's most common depiction in Greek mythology within the Orphic Hymns, where she is indeed described as the daughter of Persephone, but her father is Zeus by way of performing a Bed Trick by disguising himself as Hades. And seeing how Supergiant Games handled Zagreus' character and his conflicting origins in the first game, it is very likely that — if they aren't using this tale an outright plot point — there will at at least be some sort of reference to it.
- Jossed - Not only does Chronos "die" when defeated (with no appearance of Zag in that instance), eventually Melinoë has a dream of the moments after Chronos attacked where you play as Hades. Zagreus can be found among all the house members who have been frozen in time by Chronos as Hades goes to confront the titan.
- Somewhat corroborating is the fact that Chronos seeks the place where the Fates reside, and got that information from Chaos.
- Alternatively, they might have expected to deal with another one of Hades' children so they changed their form to something that might be more comfortable for Mel.
- Alternatively again, they might have changed their appearance after learning more about humanity (in the broad, deity-including sense) from Zagreus in the first game, or so they look more like Nyx.
- Witch's Staff:
- Aspect of Odin: Considering how the first game didn't have an aspect based off of Norse Mythology, it seems fairly likely one of the Noturnal Arms will have them here. One option would be to have the Witch's Staff change to a form inspired by Gungnir, the spear wielded by Odin, and an Ur-Example for the Wizard Classic trope. The Ω Special could see Gungnir being used as a projectile that strikes the nearest foe no matter how out of the way they, but for a high price in Mana.
- Alternatively: Aspect of Morgan le Fey, as a Call-Back to Stygius's hidden aspect being King Arthur's Excalibur in the first game; the staff and the sword are the respective starting weapons of the main characters of each installment, and Morgan is Arthur's sister in some interpretations.
- Sister Blades:
- Aspect of Osiris: To fit Melinoë being the daughter of Hades, the Sister Blades will change into a crook and flail most commonly associated with the Egyptian God of the Dead, Osiris. Its Ω Special would have them draw in any enemy within the certain radius, before unleashing a powerful attack killing all of them, calling back to how the crook and flail were tools used by Shepherds.
- Alternatively, it could be the Aspect of Aset (AKA Isis), Osiris's wife, who is a goddess of magic and reconstituted him.
- Moonstone Axe:
- Aspect of Paul Bunyan: An unconventional choice given his relative recency, but one possible Hidden Aspect for the Moonstone Axe is for it to change into a lumberjack's axe similar to what Paul Bunyan is fabled to have wielded. The Ω Special of this Hidden Aspect would have Melinoë bringing down the axe in a clear vertical slice and carving a path in the middle of a horde of enemies, thus separating them and forcing them to go around it, as a nod to how one fable regarding Paul Bunyan is how he split the Grand Canyon with his axe.
- Umbral Flames:
- Aspect of Amaterasu: The Umbral Flames would change form entirely as part of this aspect, instead now being two fireballs representing the Sun, recalling Amaterasu's status as the Japanese Sun Goddess. The Ω Special would have Melinoë throwing multiple fireballs at once in different directions, and the Hidden Aspect itself would function like the Fire Flower from Super Mario Bros. - another one of Japan's big cultural landmarks.
- Argent Skull:
- Aspect of Yorick: The Argent Skull would become a much more normal-looking skull, referencing the Court Jester of Hamlet whose skull is famously talked to by Hamlet himself. For its Ω Special, it would deal a random status effect on enemies (Weak, Chill, Hitch, etc.), leaning into Yorick being the Jester of King Hamlet's court. Bonus points if the activation phrase is delivered by Eris, who also seems to have a clown-like motif in her physical design.
- Alternatively: Aspect of Mimir, turning into the severed head of that deity. Uniquely, this weapon might converse with Melinoe during her journey.
In character detail, it bears noting how in Hecate's design that her only exposed right eye is shown glowing green and her left arm is oddly covered by a gauntlet while her right arm is exposed and human, which is similar to Melinoë's own characteristics of a green right eye and left, otherworldly arm. Perhaps the reason her left eye and arm are hidden is mainly to hide these associations from both the player and Melinoë herself. Hecate also expresses immense guilt at not being able to stop Chronos the first time she dealt with him, expressively mentions how she wants to prepare Melinoë to "succeed where [she] failed", and her reaction to Hades thanks has her acting incredibly emotional and asking Melinoë to hide said reaction until they can save Hades.
As for how or why she's time displaced, Chronos is the Big Bad here. It may be the result of a whim of a bad end future Chronos to toss Melinoë through time so she'd never get to see her own family ever again. As a result, the Bad End Future Melinoë sought to prepare for the day Chronos would strike again, teaching her past self how to do better in hopes she would succeed where the now renamed Hecate had failed.