Characters / Hades - Zagreus

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Chthonic Gods (Zagreus | Hades) | Olympian Gods | Other Characters

Zagreus

Appearances: Hades
Voiced by: Darren Korb

Prince of the Underworld

"...Take one look at him and I think any questions of his parentage are soon resolved. He never seemed to like it much, there, growing up within Lord Hades' well-appointed house."

—Codex Entry

The main protagonist of the first game, Zagreus is the son of Hades and Prince of the Underworld. After having enough of his father's abuse and learning the truth about his birth mother, he decides to leave the Underworld and make it for the mortal world.

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A-G

• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. We know next to nothing about Zagreus' representations in Mycenaean Greece and during the Dark Ages, but one of the few references towards him named him "the highest of all Gods". In this game, though pretty powerful, he's not as powerful as other gods and he can be killed by low-level enemies.
• Affectionate Nickname: Acquires a great deal of these. "Zag" is the most common (used by Megaera, Thanatos, and Dionysus), though he also has "lad" (Achilles), "little Hades" (Poseidon), "Prince Z" (Sisyphus), "little godling" and "dearest" (Aphrodite), "boyo" (Skelly), "little sprout" (Demeter), "boss" and "Coz" (Hermes) and "hon" (Eurydice). Patroclus refers to him with the fairly neutral nickname of "stranger" early on, but improve your relationship with him enough, and it will become an affectionate one as well.
• Alien Blood: Discussed and inverted. Zagreus has red blood, which is a subject of curiosity to Alecto the Fury, and one of anger and derision to his father, Hades. As a god, Zagreus should presumably have the gods' golden ichor running through him, but he bleeds red like mortals do. Achilles's Codex notes that his domain of power may, in fact, be blood and life itself.
• All-Loving Hero: Zagreus himself states that so far, he doesn't really hate anybody and will always do his best to get along with everyone, provided they don't annoy him too much. His desire to form good relationships with everyone he meets even becomes a plot-point. He even tells his mother that despite all the abuse he tolerated from his father, he doesn't hate Hades. Zag maybe very snide and snarky with him and will call him out a lot, he still tries to reach out and be civil with his dad.
• Ancestral Weapon: All of the Infernal Arms. Rather than being handed down, however, they were abandoned before being relocated and given to Zagreus for his escape. The closest to a straight example is Varatha, which was once used by Hades himself, but all the weapons have had a succession of divine owners.
• Anime Hair: Look at those bangs. He gets them from his mother.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: His interactions with Megaera and Thanatos has both of them quite exasperated with his escapes, giving them both this subtext with him.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Implied Trope.
  • Unlike the other gods in the game, Zagreus does not seem to be the god of anything in particular, which stands out compared to his divine compatriots and gets commented on by others. Alecto dubs him the "god of trash", and Hades snarkily wonders if he's the god of talking back to him. Achilles' Codex speculates that given his red blood, the bloodstones he uses to channel his magic, his mother Persephone being a harvest goddess, and his bond with Thanatos, all imply that Zagreus is the god of blood and life itself. Zagreus asserts that he's not the god of anything when Achilles talks about it with him, and it's ultimately left vague if Achilles is right or not. Although post-game, Zagreus mentions to Demeter that he thinks he feels some of her and Persephone's power over life within him, lending more credence to Achilles' theory. ^note  This is further supported by the meaning of Zagreus' name, which refers to a pit for the capture of live animals, emphasis on the "live." The root of his name might in fact be zoë, "life."
  • Post-game, if Zagreus has the flashback where Hades comments that he doesn't know what Zagreus is the god of, Zagreus will comment to himself that he is the god of blood.
  • Once Ares' affection gets high enough, he'll drop a few hints that he's deduced Zagreus' domain. Afterwards, if his Greater Call is used, he can outright declare that the enemy faces the gods of Blood and War.
  • The lack of confirmation as to what Zagreus is the god of is also something of a Historical In-Joke to the actual Greek god Zagreus. Aside from knowing that he is a chthonic god, that he was the son of Hades and Persephone^note and even this is a point of contention, as Orphism asserts he's the son of Zeus and Persephone, who then becomes Dionysus, and that he was worshiped by Orphic cults for dying and coming back to life, it's not clear what his particular role and sphere of influence was in the pantheon. Records from that particular time in Greek history are sketchy at best, leaving Zagreus as a bit of a mystery.
• Ascended Extra: In the original myths, Zagreus was a minor god, killed very early on and revived as Dionysus. Here, he's the main protagonist and an entirely separate entity from Dionysus.
• The Baby of the Bunch:
  • The Olympian gods see him as this, so eager to meet their new favorite "godling" cousin/nephew that they're helping him break out of the Underworld in order to take him to Olympus as one of their own.
  • Among the chthonic gods, he is this as well. Even his closest friends Thanatos and Meg are stated to be a good deal older than he is, though how much exactly old is kept rather vague.
• Back from the Dead: No matter how many times he gets killed by whatever Hades and his realm throws at him, including Hades himself, he'll always revive at the House. Nyx revived him for the first time after his stillbirth, by fighting against the Fates themselves to do so.
• Badass in Distress: He's apparently captured alongside his father and mother in II, which is why it's up to his sister to save them.
• Battle Couple: With Thanatos if they are romanced together.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Over the course of the game, Zagreus can potentially free Achilles, Orpheus, and Sisyphus from the terms of their pacts with Hades because he individually befriended them. Even after that, Achilles and Orpheus both continue to work for the House of Hades while Sisyphus never abandons his post.
• Been There, Shaped History: The in-universe reason that there is so many conflicting origins of Zagreus from the myths ^ExplanationThat Zeus was Zagreus' "true" father and that he was ripped to sheds by the Titans and Dionysus is his reincarnation is because he told Orpheus a series of lies, and Orpheus took his stories at face value.
• Berserk Button: It's subtle, but Zagreus actually has a complex about the fact that he bleeds red. Alecto calls him "Redblood" as a demeaning nickname, and Zagreus is absolutely mortified when Achilles adds in his codes that he believes Zagreus to be "The God of Blood".
• Beware the Nice Ones: Zagreus is a very polite, well-mannered man who can pretty much befriend anyone he meets. But he's also a god, more so Prince of the Underworld who has garnered a reputation of causing chaos throughout the aforementioned realm and is able to beat his own father in combat. His position was made somewhat official as he became the Underworld's "warden", aiming to escape as a means to review any security problems and improve upon them.
• Blood Magic: The bloodstones Zagreus casts are evidently made out of his own blood, adding credence to Achilles's theory that he's actually the god of blood. He can also acquire the Boiling Blood and Abyssal Blood traits from the Mirror of Night, which respectively lower the defensive or offensive abilities of the monster struck by a bloodstone.
• Bloody Murder: Throws crystallized blood as his 'default' cast.
• Body to Jewel: Bloodstones, which he uses to catalyze magic, or just throws at enemies.
• Book Dumb: Despite his apparent wit, he's impulsive and inattentive enough to have failed at every administrative task his father had assigned to him. A flashback dream shows that Zagreus was so bad at bookkeeping that Hades fired him and banned him from ever setting foot into the administrative office ever again. Though he did complain that Hades never actually trained him, only sat him through a several hours long seminar, twice. Achilles also makes note of Zagreus' love for history as he gifted him the codex.
• Born of Heaven and Hell: Zagreus is the son of the God of the Underworld and a goddess from Olympus^note although Hades is brother/uncle to the Olympians, he has settled into his domain and is considered a chthonic god; as a surface denizen, the members of the House consider Persephone different in a way Hades is not, raised in the Underworld and raring to get to the surface. Athena in particular sees him as a bridge between the Underworld and the surface. In the endgame, Zagreus can reconcile both sides of his family.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • While initially delighted to meet and fight Theseus, after a few runs, he will be fed up with his erstwhile hero being a Sore Loser who frequently spouts belittling comments. Eventually, one of Zag's standard comments on entering the arena is simply;
    Zagreus: Asterius. Other guy.
  • Over time, Zagreus slowly comes to realize that the Olympian gods aren't quite the warm family he built them up to be in his head. After realizing first-hand how petty and vindictive they can be over the simplest slight, he starts to admit that his father may actually have a point in wanting nothing to do with them.
• Casual Kink: Snarks quite freely and cheerfully about not minding or even being into pain. Rekindling his relationship with Megaera results in audio that makes it rather clear he's not kidding about this.
• Character Development: He goes from someone who wants to leave the Underworld behind after a lifetime of emotional abuse from his father, to someone who wants to fix his family troubles, feeling that running away solves nothing.
• Child of Forbidden Love: The reason why Hades is so adamant about hiding his existence from the Olympians. Being so obviously Hades and Persephone's son would expose Hades' part in Persephone's disappearance and thus draw Demeter's wrath.
• Chocolate Baby: In a fashion. Zagreus bleeds mortal blood instead of ichor, strongly suggesting some mortal lineage. This has led to serious doubts of the official story for his parentage, as both Hades and Nyx bleed ichor and predate the creation of mortals. After learning that Nyx isn't his birthmother, Zagreus admits it was very obvious in hindsight, noting how he looks absolutely nothing like her other sons.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Not on the level of, say, Hypnos, but he has his moments. For instance, interacting with the Bust of Homer will have Zagreus suggest that the Narrator is hiding inside of the bust, he eventually gives the Bone Hydra the Affectionate Nickname of "Lernie", and he gets really enthusiastic about fishing.
• Comeback Mechanic: Zagreus can unlock "Death Defiance" at the Mirror, which allows him to survive an otherwise lethal blow and regenerate half of his max health up to three times per run. Its counterpart, "Stubborn Defiance" allows Zagreus to regenerate 30% of his health once per room, and the percentage restored in the latter case can be enhanced with temporary power-ups. Some boons even buff Zagreus after he defies death in an encounter.
• Confusion Fu: Zagreus's combat style is essentially random, as his powerset is decided on the fly by the whims of his fickle Olympian relatives and whatever weapon he decides to use, at least one of which is entirely unique. Thus, as both Hades and Asterius note, he's very difficult to form a strategy against.
• Cool Crown: Wears a blazing laurel chaplet which seems to be in Perpetual Molt.
• Cosmic Plaything: The Narrator really has it in for Zag:
  The Narrator: 'He cannot kill me like this every time,' believes the Underworld Prince. 'He shall eventually have no more ideas.' But the Prince, as is often the case, is wrong.
• Crippling Overspecialization: It gets revealed over the course of the story that Zagreus isn't particularly good at being a chthonic deity. Without the aid of Nyx and the Olympian Gods, he's not powerful, and he's completely in over his head when it comes to the administrative side of ruling the Underworld. Ironically enough, the only task he excels at is breaking out. At the end of the game when Zagreus finally reconciles with his father, Hades decides to make this his official job.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being the son of Hades and dressing entirely in red and black, Zagreus is quite friendly and polite, at least to those who haven't given him reason not to be. When Zag runs into the likes of Sisyphus and Patroclus during his runs, Zagreus is unfailingly polite to them. The only people he's actively rude to are Hades and Theseus—the former for obvious reasons, the latter only after he makes it very clear that he considers Zagreus a worthless monster who is only there to be killed in spectacular fashion.
• Dash Attack: He can perform a strong attack with his weapon while dashing, a mechanic that's also called in-game as "Dash-Attack". Any boon effects added to his regular attacks also affect the properties of his dash attacks.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of his dialogue involves some variety of snark, which appears to run in the family. He can be particularly sarcastic towards those he's not on the best of terms with, like Theseus and especially his father.
• Decomposite Character: In the Dionysiaca and in the Orphic Mysteries, Zagreus was originally the name of Dionysus before his death and rebirth (often referred to as the Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus). In Hades, he's a separate character^note evidently based on some classicists' suggestions that Dionysus-Zagreus was himself already a Composite Character of Dionysus and the underworld son of Hades and Persephone who jokingly told Orpheus they were the same person once and was taken completely at his ridiculous word.
• Deity Identity Confusion: Happens in-universe thanks to a joke gone wrong. (This is actually a literal Mythology Gag, referencing how Zagreus and Dionysus are actually the same person in Classical Mythology)
  Dionysus: Hahaha, Zag, I heard you got to Orpheus. He's got this whole entire ballad now about how you're really me—or maybe it's the other way around? I've no idea, haha!
• Departure Means Death: Hades isn't wrong. Zagreus really can't leave the underworld, at least not for more than a few minutes. Once Persephone is gone he can barely even set foot outside the battlefield with Hades before keeling over.
• Depending on the Artist: It's not entirely consistent whether or not his red eye has black sclera, as some in-game art and the animated trailer depict him with white sclera in both eyes.
• Desperately Craves Affection: Hades starved him for positive attention, so he's taken to seeking it from just about everyone else, and this mostly manifests in relentless people-pleasing behavior that sometimes goes beyond the target's comfort. He's working on it, at least.
  Zagreus: I probably shouldn't be tying my sense of self-worth to praise from friends, acquaintances, and strangers, anyways.
  Achilles: Indeed, lad.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Zagreus felt directionless and out of place for much of his life before the start of the game, not helped by Hades's frequent belittling of his efforts to do anything. He also has the dubious honor of being the only god who does not appear to have domain of power over which he presides, Achilles's theory notwithstanding.
• The Determinator: He will fight his way out of the underworld, no matter how many times he has to die before he manages it. Also, once he sets his heart to a task to help those he cares about, there's very little anyone can say or do that will stop him.
• Determined Defeatist: Even when he does accept that he is incapable of living on the surface for more than a couple of hours, he's still gonna try escaping. If nothing else, repeatedly killing Hades is very cathartic.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • For the main story, he really didn't have a plan on how to actually escape besides brute-forcing it by beating up everyone until he gets to the surface, with his deaths only acting as minor inconveniences.
  • When he attempts to get Patroclus and Achilles or Eurydice and Orpheus back together, while he had the best of intentions, he doesn't fully consider the other party's feelings of why they don't take the initial first step to reconnect, or how giving their estranged lovers information that they were not ready or willing to give to them was an invasion of their privacy and trust. He does get called out on this and Zagreus does end up apologizing for overstepping.
• Dramatic Gun Cock: Zagreus will always reload the Adamant Rail with a very satisfying "CHK-CHK". Invoked by the Aspect of Hestia, as manually reloading even when the clip is full empowers the next shot.
• The Dreaded: In the post-game, Zagreus ends up becoming something of a boogeyman up on the mortal realm due to how much chaos he causes in the underworld. This was all part of Hades' plan, as their fear of Zagreus has led to mortals largely living better lives to avoid invoking his wrath, reducing the overpopulation of Tartarus.
• Dreadful Musician: The game has the option for Zagreus to buy a lyre to keep in his room, and his first attempts to play it show that he's not very good at music. This becomes subverted over time as he gradually gets better through practice and Orpheus' encouragement.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: Occasionally, Zagreus will mention that he wants to lie down in his bed. In doing so, he would dream about a sepia-filtered flashback sequence.
• Duality Motif: His eyes foreshadow his parentage; his right eye comes from Hades, his left from Persephone.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Zagreus is actually mortified when Achilles theorizes that Zagreus is "The God of Blood". Achilles is quick to assuage him that he didn't mean any harm by it. Although he apparently learns to embrace it as later during one of his escape attempts, he can think back to how his Father told him he wasn't the God of Anything, only for Zagreus in the present day to proudly call himself the God of Blood.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Half of Zagreus's face is hidden in shadow in almost all images of him, emphasizing his mismatched eyes.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Thanatos tells Zagreus that he has his mother's eyes... one of them, anyway. His green eye is from Persephone, his red one from Hades.
• Family of Choice: A downplayed but still touching example. Zagreus is initially shocked to learn that Nyx is not his biological mother but he still remains on good terms with her. Despite still having both of his parents alive, Zagreus can make it clear that he sees Nyx as his mother just as much as Persephone.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: Zagreus can hear the Narrator just as well as the player, and will often respond to him as if spoken to directly. He also discovers that Persephone is his real mother rather than Nyx not from any direct evidence left behind, but because the Narrator carelessly describes Persephone's "Dear John" Letter as "written in his mother's hand".
• Fragile Speedster: Compared to most bosses, Zagreus lacks their high vitality and damage-per-hit, but he is far better at avoiding attacks and does far more hits or combos than them. Hades specifically refers to him as "scrawny, though slippery".
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Though he dresses like he's Red and Black and Evil All Over, he's a polite, genial (if cheeky) Nice Guy who almost never raises his voice out of anger.
• Friend to All Living Things: Parodied in several of the game's joke endings, wherein Zagreus attempts to befriend various surface animals Disney Princess-style, only for those animals to immediately kill him.
• Friend Versus Lover: Zagreus runs into an interesting case of this with Sisyphus if he enters into a relationship with Megaera and Thanatos. The latter two hate Sisyphus with a passion, and Sisyphus for his part is deeply disturbed by how Zagreus could be in a relationship with either of them.
• Futile Hand Reach: Whenever he manages to get back onto the Surface to see Persephone and starts to die once more, he tries to outstretch his hand towards her before it falls with the rest of his body into the pool of Styx.
• Gene Hunting: He's prompted into his endless struggle to escape the Underworld by the discovery that Nyx is actually his stepmother rather than birth mother and that his actual birth mother has evidently been Unpersoned. Ironically, this discovery doesn't damage his relationship with Nyx at all (who's an active ally in his endeavor to find out what happened to his Missing Mom, and he is still happy to call Nyx his mother), but is instead the final straw for Zagreus's already bitter relationship with his father, Hades. It also causes some initial friction in his relationship with Thanatos, since Thanatos thinks Zagreus's search is showing disrespect to Nyx, who raised him as her own.
• Generation Xerox: It turns out that Zagreus's circumstances heavily mirror Persephone's own as a Child of Two Worlds who sought to escape a troubled relationship with her mother.
• Gentleman Snarker: Rebellious troublemaker he may be, he's still invariably well-mannered and soft-spoken in his snark.
• Gilded Cage: The House of Hades serves as his. While it's a very nice Big Fancy House on its own, its location at the deepest levels of Tartarus, Hades's oppressive presence, and the fact that Zagreus is forbidden from leaving it on pain of death all make living there so intolerable to Zagreus that he's willing to die hundreds of deaths in his efforts to escape it.
• A God Is You: He's the player character and a Greek god, albeit one of the most obscure ones, and—at least by comparison to the Greek lineup—the least impressive.
• Good Is Not Soft: Zagreus usually shows respect to everyone he first meets, and he's a very supportive friend, often trying to help the people he's friends with overcome their personal problems like with Patroclus and Eurydice. That said, Zagreus still isn't afraid to lay waste to his opponents, and he can also be quite bitter and spiteful to people he doesn't like (especially Hades, with whom he has a very strained relationship).
• Gradual Regeneration: Cthonic Vitality, once fully upgraded, will heal three HP with each room entered. While it's not much, it adds up over the 50-odd rooms in a full run.

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• Happily Adopted: Zagreus towards Nyx, after it's revealed that Hades had him believe she was his mother instead of Persephone. His act of giving her a bottle of Nectar mentions that it's a way of thanking Nyx for all she's done for him, and she was planning to give him her keepsake anyway. She even continues to refer to him as her child after the reveal, and maxing the bond between them has Zagreus say she's as much of a mother to him as Persephone and that he loves her, which Nyx responds by saying she loves him too.
• Hates Their Parent: His relationship with Hades is terse, to say the least. Hades thinks he is an ungrateful son who is trying to do something ridiculous, while Zagreus sees Hades as an over-controlling father who doesn't want him to meet the rest of his own family.
• The Heart: Ends up fulfilling this role with the Olympian and chthonic gods, along with multiple residents of the Underworld. Generally speaking, if you don't immediately resort to violence with Zagreus, then you will become a happier, more well adjusted person. Even Asterius, who does immediately resort to violence because it's his job, develops a respectful Worthy Opponent relationship with him.
• Height Angst: Asterius giving him the Innocently Insensitive nickname of "short one" has made him a bit sensitive about his height. It doesn't help that he's shorter than the other Greek gods we see in person.
  Asterius: My opponent has arrived in short order.
  Zagreus: "Short order"? That was another jab about my height, wasn't it!
  Asterius: I do not jab. All of my strength goes into every strike.
• Hereditary Curse: Like his father, Zagreus is metaphysically bound to the Underworld, and even a successful escape will end with him being dragged back home by the Styx. This does absolutely nothing to stop him.
• Hereditary Hairstyle: Minus the braid, his hairstyle is virtually the same as his birth mother, Persephone's.
• Heroes Love Dogs: More like heroes love giant three-headed demon hounds, but close enough in the case of Cerberus. Zagreus loves Cerberus dearly and can even pet one of his heads in-game.
• Hidden Depths: Before gifting Zagreus his codex, Achilles makes note of Zagreus' apparent love for history. During a fight with Theseus if a certain Pact of Punishment has been applied, he even recognizes the chariot that Theseus rides just at a glance.
• Hidden Eyes: A variant; in official art, his red eye is usually framed by shadow, with his posture angled to emphasize his green eye.
• Historical In-Joke: Orpheus' "Hymn to Zagreus" is a ballad detailing the epic backstory of Zagreus. All of which are fibs Zagreus told Orpheus for a laugh. They all also happen to be rooted in the actual scarce details from the actual Zagreus from the myths.
  • It turns out the the Orphic "first Dionysus" was the result of Zagreus pranking Orpheus on Dionysus's suggestion and claiming that he and Dionysus the same person.
  • Zeus was Zagreus' "actual" father instead of Hades.
• Hunk: He's a Greek god who's built like... well, a Greek god, having a muscular build and chiseled features. Aphrodite herself is quick to note that he's quite the specimen.
• I Am Not My Father: While he's already a stark departure from his father by nature, Zagreus's disdain for Hades encourages him to depart further (such as doubling down on polyamory after learning that Hades has a Single-Target Sexuality).
• I Have Many Names: Downplayed. He has the same name through the entire game, but he collects no small assortment of nicknames or ways he's referred to other than his name. Zeus calls him "young man", Poseidon calls him "Little Hades", Athena calls him "Cousin", Thanatos and Dionysus call him "Zag", Skelly calls him "boyo", Nyx calls him "child", Chaos calls him "Son of Hades", Hermes calls him "Coz" and "boss", Sisyphus calls him "Prince Z(ed)", Eurydice calls him "Your Royal Majesty" or "hon", Orpheus calls him "my friend", Ares calls him "my kin", Demeter calls him "little sprout", Aphrodite calls him "little godling", Achilles calls him "lad", Patroclus calls him "stranger", Theseus calls him "monster", Asterius calls him "short one", and Hades always dismissively calls him "boy" (though after completing the main quest, Hades makes an effort at being a better parent and he always corrects himself to "Zagreus" afterwards).
• Immortality Bisexuality: Many Greek gods are bi, and Zagreus is no exception. He can romance Megaera or Thanatos... Or both!
• Inadequate Inheritor: Hades is happy to remind him that he's a Book Dumb good-for-nothing who fails at even the most basic administrative tasks. Zagreus has gotten so fed up with the constant belittling that he's rejected the inheritance entirely and is dying (quite literally) to escape the Underworld. Hades even speculates, after Zagreus beats him a few times, that this is what the Fates meant when they decreed he would not have "a living heir". Eventually Hades decides to hire him as a security consultant, charged with trying to escape and finding any loopholes that can be used to leave Hades' realm.
• Informed Deformity: Both Hades and Artemis call him scrawny, which he isn't by any normal standards. Could be explained that since they're, well, Gods, their standards are exceptionally higher than what mortal standards are of Zagreus in terms of musculature.
• Informed Flaw:
  • Coinciding with Inadequate Inheritor, one can question if Zagreus could have learned to adapt to the Administrative Leadership if he had an actual patient mentor, rather than Hades. Zagreus gets so fed up with Hades' verbal abuse that he quits, shortly after the instruction began in the first place. The fact that the Narrator wouldn't stop taunting him and distracting him likely also led to the fact that he couldn't work efficiently.
  • Zagreus is also often likened to being a Manchild due to his temperament, seemingly aimless ambitions, and the state of his bedroom.
• Innocently Insensitive: As nice as he can be to people he cares about, Zagreus has an unfortunate tendency to cross people's personal boundaries when it comes to his attempts to help them out. While he does do it with good intentions, it is a consistent trend that gets noted by Thanatos.
  • He digs into Orpheus and Eurydice's backstories because he believes that the two still have feelings for one another and should be reunited. He never once asked them if they were comfortable opening up about their past, or if they were ready to reconcile their previous relationship.
  • Zagreus similarly pushes for Achilles and Patroclus to patch things up, even telling Patroclus the nature of Achilles' death even though the latter was reluctant to have that information shared.
  • Zagreus asks Dusa how she is only a floating head, and Dusa point blank tells him that it's something she is not comfortable talking to anyone about.
  • He gives lavish gifts of ambrosia to his friends. Achilles eventually politely tells him to stop giving them to him because to warriors from Elysium, ambrosia is supposed to be earned through combat. Dusa is seemingly flattered, but offers to return all the ones Zagreus gifted her because she felt that he was starting to do her job for her. While the two of them could have been acting in their normal aloof manner towards Zagreus, Meg and Thanatos in particular aren't initially comfortable with Zagreus gifting them ambrosia and even attempt to make him stop when they believe he's being insincere.
• Insistent Terminology: When the other characters mock Zagreus's act of shoplifting from Charon and getting himself killed by the boatman, he will insist that he did not steal, but instead, he tried to "borrow" coins from Charon. The context prompt that appears when interacting with Charon's stash is also labeled as "Borrow" in order to reflect this.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Just before entering the boss room of Tartarus, Zagreus would often guess who among the three Furies would he fight in the next room. Because of the Random Number God, his guess can turn up wrong, and he will quickly lampshade this situation.
• Invocation: He borrows his father's "Darkness!" invocation whenever he turns invisible thanks to the Sigil of the Dead.
• It Was a Gift: Whenever Zagreus gives someone nectar, they may respond in turn by handing the prince a keepsake or Chthonic Companion. At times, he'll try and politely decline it by saying he was just giving the person a gift because he wanted to, but he still accepts it in the end.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Achilles is the closest thing Zagreus likely had to a father figure, as well as a mentor and a close confidant. It can also be implied that Zagreus gained a crush on Achilles if you keep gifting him with nectar. But once he finds out Achilles is still very much in love with Patroclus, he does everything he can to bring the two back together because he wants Achilles to be happy and believes he deserves it after all he went through.
• I Will Find You: His motive in escaping the underworld is to find his true mother, Persephone. And he does, albeit not without considerable difficulty.
• Jack of All Trades: Owing to his Loser Deity status, Zagreus does not excel at any specific form of element or combat. His combat styles are literally a mix match of the various weapon aspects and boons provided by the Olympians that he utilizes. Asterius will eventually note that this is exactly what makes Zagreus such a formidable fighter and hard to prepare against.
• Javelin Thrower: Varatha can be thrown and called to return to his hand, doing decent damage in a line. Its baseline Aspect of Zagreus is based around this by buffing the throw when leveling it up. Achilles' aspect allows you to throw it, then rush to its location, essentially giving you an extra dash.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: He has little trouble looting his father's realm as he battles through it. This comes to bite him in the ass when he discovers that Charon has a Shoplift and Die policy.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!":
  • Will quickly go googly-eyed upon his first encounter with Theseus. This attitude quickly changes once he realizes how self-righteous and disrespectful the latter is.
  • Zagreus sometimes brings up Herakles and has even gotten excited about the prospect of fighting him.
• Large Runt: He is hardly short by mortal standards, being the same height as Theseus (who towers over the Elysium coliseum's crowdgoers and was noted by Plutarch as exceptionally tall). But he's a god, not a mortal; and when standing next to other gods (particularly his own father), Zagreus looks absolutely tiny. This may have to do with the fact that he's one quarter human, as his birth mother Persephone is Semi-Divine.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Several characters will comment that he's a stark departure from his father in temperament and character, although they do share some behavioral characteristics (try as both may deny it). Nyx says he gets it from his birth mother, Persephone.
• Like Father, Like Son: Although they are at odds with each other, it is frequently hinted that Zagreus and his father are more alike that they immediately realize (or, in the latter's case, care to admit). Most prominently, Zagreus' occasional playful sarcasm are by all means a somewhat lighter reflection of Hades' extremely dry and acerbic witticisms. Later, Persephone comments on Zagreus' dogged refusal to give up, noting that he has his father's stubborness.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He was kept in the dark not only about his parentage, but Persephone's entire existence, her title as Queen of the Underworld included.
• Loser Deity: Zagreus can't help but feel inadequate and out of place in the House of Hades — he doesn't appear to have any sort of godly domain, he's hopeless at the duty he was raised for, he can only really compare to other deities in power with a generous amount of help from the Olympians' boons and Nyx's mirror, and his father is always happy to remind him how much of a disappointment he is any chance he gets. There are many hints that Zagreus is much closer to mortalhood than any of the other gods, and that his potential domain is life itself. While this would make him quite strong, it still pales in comparison to his godly relatives.
• Love Epiphany: If the player maxes out the relationship values with Thanatos, Zagreus apparently had one of these when Thanatos first sought him out to confront him about leaving the House of Hades during one of his escape attempts.
• Magic Knight: Along with being a Multi-Melee Master, he has some capability in Blood Magic.
• Magic Mirror: The Mirror of Night, the source of many of his powers, courtesy of Nyx. Once Zagreus has unlocked the entirety of the Mirror, Nyx seems to imply in one dialogue that those powers he unlocks are inherent to him.
• Magnetic Hero:
  • Through his efforts of attempting to escape the underworld, Zagreus manages to accrue quite a list of allies and supporters. Starting with Nyx, Athena, and Achilles, but growing to include the other Olympians, Thanatos, Chaos, Sisyphus, Orpheus, Eurydice, and Patroclus.
  • It's implied that the Olympians in particular were brought together for the first time after a long while because of their common united effort to help Zagreus escape.
• The Many Deaths of You: Be prepared to see/hear Zagreus die a lot.
• Master of the Mixed Message: Thanatos accuses him of being this, especially since he only starts courting him after he's made his intentions clear that he has no plans of staying in the Underworld.
• May–December Romance: This is ultimately relative due to them all being ageless gods, but it's frequently noted that both Megaera and Thanatos are considerably older than Zagreus. They're also his two primary romance options.
• Men Can't Keep House: Hades constantly hounds him over his messy room and why he never takes as much initiative tidying up as he does escaping. Even the narrator gets a few digs in at the prince. Ironically subverted at the same time, as while Zagreus doesn't clean up his own room, he can clean up the rest of the House of Hades and improve its state quite a bit.
  Hades: Why don't you clean your chambers so ferociously?
  Zagreus: What, so they could look like your boring chambers?
  Hades: You take that back about my chambers!
  Zagreus: They're boring, I say!
• A Mistake Is Born: Zagreus was never meant to happen. The Fates had decreed that Hades would have no heir, so he never intended to have a child. But then Persephone got pregnant anyway.
• Modest Royalty: Zagreus's Requisite Royal Regalia is far sparser than his parents', with his burning civic crown being the only indication that he's royal at all.
• Momma's Boy: Zagreus loves Nyx as much as he loathes Hades. When he learns that Persephone's his birth mother and finally persuades her to return to the Underworld, he simply decides he has two mothers to adore instead of choosing between them.
• Morality Pet: Demeter manages to have something of a soft spot for him despite her bitterness. And she implies that she would have been much angrier about Persephone and Hades's relationship were Zagreus not the end result.
• Mr. Fanservice: While all the gods were drawn to be attractive, the game's official launch trailer went viral for the special attention it paid to Zagreus's figure specifically. Production materials proved this to be entirely intentional.
  Storyboard note: [Brushes blood out of hair SEXILY]
• Multi-Melee Master: Capable of skillfully wielding Stygius, Aegis, the spear Varatha and Malphon in melee combat.
• Multi-Ranged Master: Able to use Coronacht and Exagryph from a distance. He can also throw Aegis and Varatha.
• Multi Shot: A feat Zagreus is capable of with the heart-seeking bow, and the upgraded Adamant Rail.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Played for Laughs. Zagreus loves messing with Orpheus by telling him grandiose tales of his life, but comes to this conclusion when not only does Orpheus write a song about it, he is unable to think any differently.
• Nice Guy: Despite his rebellious and snarky attitude, Zagreus is incredibly friendly and inviting to practically everyone he comes across, whether they be literal gods or lowly servants.
• Nice to the Waiter: He treats the shades around the House of Hades quite well, always addressing Dusa and servant shades with kindness. This has made at least Dusa get an unrequited crush on him.
• The Nicknamer: He eventually calls Megaera as "Meg", Thanatos as "Than", and the Lernean Bone Hydra as "Lernie".
• Noodle Incident:
  • The details of Zagreus' breakup with Megaera prior to the start of the story gets alluded to several times throughout conversations but it's never fully explained what went down. The most that ever gets fully confirmed is that both parties consider Zagreus to be the one at fault.
  • In a conversation with Thanatos, Zagreus had at one time apparently tried to set Cereberus' tails on fire with his feet.
• Not Blood Siblings: Zagreus used to be in a relationship with Megaera, and can rekindle it and/or romance Thanatos as well. All of them are said to be children of Nyx, with the Furies being Nyx's adoptive daughters, making them step-siblings, though this being based on Greek Mythology, it's not really that unusual. It's eventually revealed that Zagreus isn't actually Nyx's son, although she raised him as if he was.

O-Z

• O.C. Stand-in: A rare canon example. He's this more-or-less by necessity, as his mythological counterpart has barely any surviving records about him, and the few he does have ended with him reincarnating into Dionysus. As a result, the game's interpretation of him (mainly inspired by the Greek playwright Aeschylus' mention of him as the son of Hades) is an entirely new character who's separate from Dionysus.
• Odd Job Gods: Inverted in that Zagreus does not seem to be the god of anything in particular. Mockingly referenced by Hades, who wonders if he's the god of talking back to him. It's implied throughout the game that he's the god of blood, with Thesus and Ares declaring this to be his title and Zagreus eventually affirming it to Hades. It also helps that his blood is red, even though he's a god who should have golden ichor for blood.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • If you steal from Charon, he transports you to another area and prepares to kill you. And even Zagreus is nervous.
  • The Tiny Vermin / King Vermin encounter in the Temple of Styx has Zagreus sigh in relief that he's facing only one, small vermin. Said beast unleashes a roar that shakes the entire room. He utters "Oh Gods!" in shock.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: An unusual example in that it's not one nickname: Almost no-one in-game refers to Zagreus by his actual name and has nicknames for him instead. These range from the affectionate (Nyx's "child", Thanatos's "Zag" and Achilles's "lad") to the much-less so (Hades's "boy", Alecto's "redblood" and Theseus's "fiend"). Only the narrator, Orpheus, Artemis and Persephone consistently use "Zagreus", while Hades only reluctantly uses it once, when he apologizes to his son for treating him harshly. Though later on he does make an effort to refer to Zagreus by his name, rather than "boy".
• Oxymoronic Being: At least if Achilles's theory that he's a life god is true. Not only is he pretty bad at keeping himself alive, he was stillborn and is forever confined to the Underworld.
• Paradox Person: The Fates declared that Hades would never have a living heir, yet here he is.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Ares may request that Zagreus bring a message to Nyx for him. Zagreus does it reluctantly, and is clearly uncomfortable when Nyx seemingly returns Ares' affections.
• Patchwork Kids: He's a fairly even blend of both his parents in terms of looks. He has one of Hades' red eyes, along with his hair color, skin tone and burning feet. Even the codex says that looking at him will dispel any doubts that Zagreus is Hades's son. When it comes to his similarities to his mother Persephone, his facial features are very similar (albeit slightly more chiseled) and his other eye is green like hers. They also have similarly spiky hairstyles.
• Perpetual Molt: His chaplet constantly sheds leaves.
• Personality Powers: His temperament is that of his apparent domain—sanguine; Zagreus is very extroverted, cheerful, and people-oriented, he makes friendships easily, even with prisoners (Sisyphus) and servants (Dusa). Achilles even cites it as evidence.
  • Of course Zagreus would be sanguine. On top of meaning optimistic or hopeful, sanguine can also mean blood-red, bloody or bloodthirsty.
• Polyamory: The player can choose to either have Zagreus romance Thanatos or Meg separately, or have him romance both of them, though one would have to happen after the other. When it comes to the topic of cheating on whoever he romanced first, the second option will explain why the first is fine with it and no trouble comes out of the three-way relationship.
• Power Fist: The Twin Fists of Malphon allow Zagreus to brawl his way out of the underworld.
• Power Copying: Zagreus amplifies his Blood Magic with boons gifted to him by the Olympians.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: The Shield of Chaos can bounce around in manners that would make Captain America proud.
• Prison Escape Artist: He eventually gets so good at escaping the Underworld that Hades makes it his actual job in the epilogue.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Just like his father. His birth mother has a much warmer color palette on the other hand.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He will mention, upon receiving Dusa's Chthonic Companion, that he collects them, something almost no one does "anymore". The muscle-bound, sword-wielding immortal son of Hades collects plush toys, and has not one bit of shame over it.
• Rebel Prince: He has no intention of even staying in the House of Hades, much less assuming any princely responsibilities. Most of his time is spent creating an absolute mess of the underworld in his constant attempts to escape it.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Subverted. He has the color scheme down pat, and one of his eyes is glowing red, usually with black sclera Depending on the Artist. Not only is he a fairly nice guy, he's one of the only members of chthonic royalty who bothers paying attention to the shades of the dead.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to virtually everyone else's Blue Oni. Zagreus is impulsive, reckless and prone to be led by his emotions; fittingly, his primary color is red.
• Refuge in Audacity: The game hilariously implies that the real-life conflicting nature of the myths of Zagreus boils down to the various fibs Zagreus tells Orpheus about his origins. Orpheus turns these fibs into an actual song, "The Hymn of Zagreus", and Zagreus even gets the option to buy the tune to play for the court music.
• Resurrection/Death Loop: Attempting to escape (and successfully escaping) involves a whole lot of dying, and Zagreus isn't stopping any time soon.
• Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Zagreus only shows an interest in Underworld administrative work once he's discovered a bunch of unfair contracts he wishes to amend on behalf of the Shades he runs into during escapes, much to Hades's irritation.
• The Runt at the End: While gods tend to be Large and in Charge, Zagreus's stature seems firmly within human bounds, possibly owing to the fact that his real mother, Persephone, was only Semi-Divine. As a result, he's half the height of Nyx, Hades can practically hold him in the palm of his hand, and even his more reasonably-sized romantic options stand One Head Taller than he does. Asterius has gone as far as to bestow him the Embarrassing Nickname of "short one", although this is understandable, given that Asterius is a ten-foot-tall Minotaur, and even his close companion Theseus is several heads shorter than he.
• Sad Clown: He tends to sublimate the pain he's endured from his emotional abuse at the hands of Hades into humor, both as an act of defiance and to earn much-desired affirmation from others. Hades himself sees right through it.
  Hades: All that pent-up rage behind those smiling words... unleash it once again. I expect you to go all out.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Plot-wise, he decides to leave the Underworld once he finds out the truth of his mother Persephone, is angered to leave once he realizes he's been lied to his whole life, and has the initial intent of not returning once he's reached his goal. He also got so fed up with his father's verbal abuse and unhelpful attitude when he was trained to be an administrator that he just decided to up and leave when he couldn't take it anymore.
• Self-Made Myth: He tells Orpheus a lot of untrue stories as a joke, and partly at the influence of Dionysus. In Zag's defense, he had no idea how far Orpheus would run with the stories. Also, a lot of the stories he tells him are actually true.
• Semantic Superpower: Though never directly stated, his main musical theme “In the Blood” hints that his hypothetical role as the God of Blood is more than just literal and likely extends to the metaphorical concept of bonding families together. This is supported by the relative ease via which he fixes his Big, Screwed-Up Family’s centuries of discord, as well as the familial and romantic strife of many unrelated shades.
• Semi-Divine: While he's a fully immortal god, he has some mortal ancestry on his mother's side, which is most apparent in the color of his blood, his ambiguous godly domain, and his small stature relative to other gods.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Zagreus has been locked in a Gilded Cage his whole life, and several characters warn him regularly that he's not remotely prepared for what's in store for him on the surface. Even with Achilles's training, his first several escape attempts are cut very painfully short thanks to his inexperience. He also has a naively rosy view of his Olympian cousins and doesn't know what birds or vegetables are.
• Shield Bash: His primary method of attacking with Aegis is to simply beat enemies with the shield.
• Shipper on Deck: While at first, he seemed to have a crush on Achilles, he eventually learns that he is still in love with Patroclus, and shifts his plans to instead work to get the two of them together. He's also this to Orpheus and Eurydice. When he finds out the two were lovers in the past, he tries to get them back together, much to Eurydice's initial dismay. After they do end up getting back together, Zagreus does apologize for his actions and poking his nose into their business, but Eurydice assures him she would have given him a good beating if he had overstepped.
• Shoot the Dog: Discussed after the epilogue of the story. Zagreus is relieved that the grand feast with the Olympians went as well as it did, but also laments that his family is still lying to them. Persephone basically told the Olympians the truth, but also left out or changed a few key details to prevent them from getting too angry. Zag admits he understands why his mother lied, and Persephone also smooths things over by saying that they probably knew they were lying, but also just wanted the proverbial hatchet to be buried.
• Shrouded in Myth: He even gets his own Orphic hymn... which is filled with complete nonsense, because he's been telling Orpheus ridiculous tall tales the whole time.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Wears a trio of dog skulls on his left shoulder, and he also has several human skulls on his belt. He shares this trait with Hades.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: He can hold his own in a verbal fight with others and mainly his father.
• Spoiled Sweet: He's a god, a prince, and the son of The Almighty Dollar. But while Hades may think him a spoiled brat due to his rebellious attitude, he's exceptionally deferential, generous, and Nice to the Waiter, especially for a member of the most infamously prideful Big, Screwed-Up Family.
• Summon to Hand: The Infernal Arms are not so much "picked up", they teleport to Zagreus's hands. Exploited with the Spear and the Shield, which add throwing attacks to their melee arsenal. One of the spear's forms can invert this, as Zagreus is summoned to the spear instead of the other way around.
• Teleport Spam: Zagreus's "Dash" is actually a short-distance teleport, as explained in a conversation with Thanatos. While it's technically the same ability that Thanatos uses for his own dramatic entrances and exits, Zagreus never figured out how to go "more than a blade's length in front of [him]" at a time, so the natural solution is to treat it as Video Game Dashing and spam the hell out of it. It also explains how Zagreus is able to dash through solid objects and enemy attacks.
• These Hands Have Killed: In a conversation with Achilles and if you've reached the Temple of Styx, Zagreus feels a bit disturbed at having actually killed living things. Unlike the Shades who will simply return elsewhere in Hades, the Satyrs, Vermin and whatnot are living things that Zagreus is killing. Achilles reasons that they're a pest problem and that in the end, Zagreus is just sending them to Hades to which he responds with saying along the lines "Oh, so I'm sending them home? Alright!".
• They Killed Kenny Again: Thanks to a combination of Resurrective Immortality and a complete disregard for his physical well-being, Zagreus comes to die more than any living entity ever documented by the House of Hades.
• Thinking Out Loud: Doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut and will often voice whatever fleeting (often humorous) thought that comes to mind, much to his father's annoyance. It also assists players intuit certain game mechanics or catch interactive elements on the map they could easily miss.
• Three-Point Landing: Whenever he leaves the House through the window, he lands like this.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Being a runt by divine standards, Zagreus is roughly at chest height with his Old Flame, Megaera.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Played for Laughs by the Narrator in the various Early Access/Playable Epilogue "endings", as Zagreus tends to get himself killed in dumb ways such as by petting venomous snakes, walking off cliffs, or attempting to befriend bears. However, given that these deaths are spoken by the Narrator, the veracity of these deaths is questionable at best.
  • If one decides to steal from Charon, they'll find out the hard way that it wasn't a very wise idea. Though winning against Charon has him provide you with a Loyalty Card, offering reduced prices for that run.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Hades's security measures would be a lot more effective if Zagreus didn't like getting hurt. He even says this to Meg when they first fight; she wonders if her whip could persuade him to think differently, only for Zagreus to remark it hasn't really been persuasive in the past.
• Tragic Dream: He wants to escape the Underworld and see the surface. Like Hades, he can't survive there, and will never be able to leave for more than a few hours. This is eventually subverted once it's revealed that he actually wants to find Persephone, his real mother; he doesn't seem that broken up about being bound underground anymore once she's back.
• Tragic Stillbirth: He was one originally, dying shortly after birth. Persephone was so devastated that she left the underworld and never came back. Zagreus is only alive today thanks to Nyx using her full strength to bring him back, convincing her daughters, the Fates themselves to let her do so. According to the Fates, Hades was never supposed to have an heir.
  Hades: You were never supposed to live. Took all of Nyx's strength to circumvent what should have been a certainty. Now you cannot stay dead. Such is the wry humor of the Fates.
• Trash of the Titans: Both the Narrator and Hades often point out how he never bothers to keep his room clean. It doesn't help that he can keep putting more stuff in there.
• Uneven Hybrid: Persephone, his birth mother, was in this game the result of a mortal farmer's Divine Date with Demeter, making Zagreus one-fourth human. He theorizes that his red blood is from that part of the family, though Persephone appears to have ichor for blood.
• The Unfavorite: Hades respects all of his step- and foster-children far more than his own blood-related son. The fact that he's the only thing Persephone left Hades with other than her "Dear John" Letter might have something to do with it However, he warms up to Zagreus a lot more after the main story is complete.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His quest to find his mother almost leads to Olympus learning of his mother, which would be a very bad thing for everyone.
• Vague Age: Zagreus' age relative to the other gods (both Chthonic and Olympian alike) is kept rather up in the air. For one thing, he's mostly treated as The Baby of the Bunch. Maturity-wise, from the state of his room to how he interacts with others, Zagreus almost seems akin to a teenager, though his artwork in dialogue seems to make him out to be more of a young adult. Further confusing matters is a painting Zagreus can have commissioned of Cerberus which depicts himself, Thanatos, and Megaera playing with the dog as babies, but some dialogue also implies that the latter two have known each other for much longer than Zagreus has known either of them and they were both already aware of Persephone formerly being the Queen.
• Verbal Tic: Calls people "mate" just enough for it to be a quirk.
• Video Game Dashing: Starts with one but can go up to six in a row with Hermes' help. You'll need them. Other Olympian boons and certain upgrades from the Mirror also buff Zag's dashes with additional properties.
• Wait, What?: His reaction when the narrator accidentally exposits that the letter Hades kept hidden in his drawer was from his actual mother Persephone.
• Wardens Are Evil: Come the post-game, Zagreus finally becomes an official employee of the House of Hades with his job title even being "The Warden". Zagreus' duties are explicitly to test the limitations of the underworld and find the means of escape. While Zagreus himself is a Nice Guy, his reputation for sowing chaos throughout Tartarus with his escape attempts has turned him into The Dreaded amongst mortals.
• Warrior Prince: Trained by none other than Achilles himself.
• Weak, but Skilled: While Zagreus is noted as being weak for gods' standards, through his training from Achilles, Nyx's mirror, and an assortment of boons from the Olympians, he manages to fight his way through the entire underworld. Through the repetition of his escape attempts, he manages to gain proficiency in six different weapons (each with different fighting styles via their Aspects), along with numerous Boon-combination fighting styles while wielding each weapon. Hades himself believes that he has surpassed Achilles in martial skill, even before he Took a Level in Kindness and was in full Abusive Parent mode - and in a nice case of Gameplay and Story Integration, a skilled enough player can prove it. It's entirely possible (though difficult) to defeat Extreme Measures Hades with no Boons, no help from the Mirror of Night, and only the initial Aspects of the weapons.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Hades bemoans his son's "constant need for affirmation" and made a point to never be proud of him out of contempt for the very idea of pride. And while Zagreus no longer expects anything but scorn from his father, he does get a petty thrill out of forcing the rare begrudging compliment from him.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • He is occasionally on the receiving end of this from those who are less sympathetic to his quest, like Megaera, who thinks he is rebelling against his father to stir up trouble just for its own sake, and Thanatos, who considers him an Ungrateful Bastard for trying to leave Nyx behind.
  • He's also on the receiving end of this if he shoplifts from Charon and the latter kills him in their fight. The other deities would mock Zagreus and remind him that it's stupid to steal from Charon since the boatman is also a god just like them.
  • In another case, Zagreus has an uncanny habit of inserting himself into other people's problems in his attempt to help them. Thanatos directly calls him out after he released Orpheus from his pact with Hades so that he can reunite with Eurydice, that he may have forced them into telling him more about their relationship than they were actually comfortable with. Achilles will similarly call Zagreus out on stepping in on his behalf without his permission regarding his fractured relationship with Patroclus.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: It's not entirely clear just what sort of son Hades was hoping for, other than that it's definitely not Zagreus.
• Worthy Opponent: Asterius and Hades both come to view him as one over time.
• Wrong Line of Work: Hades once tried to get him a job in the Administrative Records department in his palace, but Zag has neither the talent nor patience for bureaucratic paperwork.

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