Hammer time
- This isn't strictly speaking a plot hole, but: why Daedalus and his hammer when you have Hephaestus—the god of blacksmiths and metalworking and craftspeople—right there? Is it because he's not really on great terms with the rest of the gods, or do he and Hades have a particular beef with each other?
- Hephaestus is one of the Olympian gods, who generally don't enter the Underworld. In fact, when you get to the epilogue it's implied that it's the first time ANY Olympian god (aside from Persephone and Hades, if he counts) has entered the Underworld. Daedalus, on the other hand, is a dead shade and therefore in the Underworld permanently, so it makes sense that he's who Hades would contract for his construction needs.
- OP here: Sorry—the question was less 'why isn't Hephaestus hanging about doing construction in the Underworld' (that part is obvious) and more 'why is it Daedalus' hammer and not Hephaestus' hammer, similar to the other boons you get from the Olympians'. No disrespect to Daedalus or anything, it's just... Hephaestus is right there.
- It is probably better for gameplay reasons: hammers give effects that are different from boons, don't scale with poms or rarity, have their own spawn logic, are not affected by the mirror. Being made by mortal in-story highlights that difference.
- It's because Daedalus is implied to literally just be leaving his tools around when he's done with a project. You're quite literally finding his hammer instead of being gifted it as a boon like from the Olympians.
- Word of God is that they wanted the weapon upgrades to be visually and thematically distinct rather than having every single powerup be a boon from a god. They also liked the idea of working Daedalus into the lore as the Underworld's architect and engineer.
- Because he's busy working. No, really.
- Probably the only time Hephaestus does something in the story of this game is in the epilogue when you bring the family together. He ends up crafting that golden statue of Olympus for the Underworld's garden.
The Missing Olympians
Adding to the above, where were Helios and Hephaestus during the events of the game? Wouldn’t they be as interested in meeting their new cousin as the rest of the Olympians? (I’m leaving out Hera and Hestia as Hera probably didn’t want to deal with another unplanned kid and Hestia is a non-combatant. Though you could make the case that Hera, being the goddess of marriage and fidelity would be interested in Zagreus, assuming she figured out what Zeus did, though even then Zeus may have prevented her from interfering so no one else would find out what he did.)
- Hephaestus is stated to be busy with his work, he's also generally not on very good terms with the other Olympians, so it would make sense he's not interested in a new one, if any of them even bothered to tell him. Helios is probably busy with the whole "pulling the sun" thing, considering Zagreus' escape attempts always seem to happen right around daybreak, and it would make sense that of all the gods a sun god - especially one associated with healing and medicine - would probably have the hardest time contacting the underworld, with the sun being unable to reach the underworld at all (not to mention the lack of telling time is a running joke).
- Adding on to this, where is Hecate? While she's certainly gone a lot of evolution as a figure, eventually picking up a variety of other functions in Late Antiquity, she's still relevant even in her oldest attestations as a figure that helps search for Persephone.
- Hecate shows up in the sequel.
- Demeter comments that her siblings Helios and Hera aren't participating due to a family feud.
- Also, not having every Olympian on board gives a handy reason for why Hermes can help Zagreus in secret, on his own terms. If all the major gods helped out, then Hermes would be forced to help in the open.
Boons, One Way Communication or No?
The game presents conflicting information on this one. On the one hand, several Olympians explicitly state through their messages that they have limited immediate visual or prescient contact with him and hope that he can hear them, but that they in turn cannot hear his replies due to interference of the underworld (also likely Nyx). On the other, Zagreus, either in form or function, not only verbally accepts every time when initiating contact, but is able by some means to transfer nectar/ambrosia and thanks at this phase to the sender. Most confusingly, the Olympians will sometimes comment on what weapon or trinket he is wearing presently and a small handful of occasions do see Zagreus answer a statement mid transmission, such as accepting Dionysius' proposal to prank Orpheus, or Hermes choice of whether or not he should speak before transferring his boons to save time, seemingly without issue.
- For the nectar and ambrosia, presumably Zagreus is simply sacrificing it to the Olympians the same way any mortal would sacrifice an animal or meat or what not (however that works) and know that it was from him. As for Dionysius, I don't believe he ever directly acknowledged if Zagreus responded or not - he only becomes aware that it happened when Orpheus starts singing about it, while Hermes is the only one of the Olympians who explicitly has been to the Underworld, so he may actually be there when he talks to Zagreus.
Talking to your long-lost mom is a free action
This just occurred to me on a recent re-playthrough (in preparation for
Hades II): Zagreus and Persephone are able to have a nice, long, heartwarming chat the first time they meet, as shown by "Time Passes...", but every other time Zagreus shows up, they only have a short conversation before Zagreus is kicking the bucket. What's the deal with that?
Cthonic Companions: Underworld Beanie Babies?
What are Cthonic Companions to the characters? At times, Zagreus implies that they're collector's items (upon receiving a certain one, he's surprised that "anyone still collects these"), and might be mass-produced (he names the edition of Dusa's Fidi). But in a
conversation with Nyx, they're apparently unique, handcrafted by Nyx herself, must be willingly given to a friend.
- For that matter, how did Sisyphus get his hands on one? Everyone else appears to have a reason; Dusa's Fidi was a reward for hard work (which could apply to Achilles, Meg, and Skelly), and Thanatos's Mort is implied to be a childhood toy (which also might apply to Meg). But Sisyphus has no contact with Nyx.
Staff at the House of Hades: what are the hiring standards anyway?
Why in the name of Chaos would Hades hire Hypnos, god of dreams as his bookkeeper? His title is literally “Sleep Incarnate”. And fitting his title, he’s a total slacker who’s constantly dozing off on the job. Surely there’s someone among the underworlds who’s more attentive for the role.
- It could be that Hades just wanted Hypnos to have a job at all, and Bookkeeping seemed to be the best option for him. The rest of the Chthonic gods (well, besides Zagreus, but he is a statistical outlier, and even then he still fills the role of "heir" to Hades' throne) already have jobs, so why not give Hypnos one?
