Headscratchers / Hadestown

• Where is Demeter? Part of the reason that Persephone came back each year is because her mother demanded it. Where is she in Hadestown?
  • Besides the out-of-show 'too many gods/too much to explain' reasons, it's implied Demeter is either alive but offscreen, or she disappeared with the other gods as she's only mentioned in past-tense ("Let me tell you something that my mama said to me!"). Hadestown's Persephone is also a Composite Character of herself and her mother, hinting at inherited harvest goddess powers/duties.
• Was Orpheus banned from the Underworld because he looked back? Can he not reunite with Eurydice because he looked back?
  • Yes to both, likely to the end of his natural lifespan.
    • O.P. here - They mention that the pour one out to Orpheus who still wanders. My question was, is Orpheus functionally immortal because he isn't allowed to go to the Underworld because of Hades' deal?
    • A couple interpretations and fanfics have him be immortal, but 'We Raise Our Cups' is half an epilogue to the show and half the cast toasting the mythological Orpheus out-of-character. Since the story resets in the show proper, I think Orpheus is still mortal. Many fanfics have had him die and reunite with Eurydice like in the myth, due to Maenad shenanigans or otherwise.
• Does Hades change how Hadestown is run after reconciling with Persephone because she felt like it was an unnatural city or out of compassion for Orpheus, Persephone or Eurydice?
  • We're not explicitly shown what happens belowground since the story resets, but it's implied it's both since the ending has Persephone arrive on time.

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