Characters / Hades - Olympian Gods

Hades Main Character Index
Chthonic Gods (Zagreus | Hades) | Olympian Gods | Other Characters

The gods that reside on Mount Olympus. They assist Zagreus from afar after being reached out to by Nyx, as they feel like he should be part of their family.

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Olympian Gods in General

• Adaptational Nice Guy: In Greek mythology, the Olympians are known for being vindictive and petty. While they certainly become offended if you side against them in the Trial of the Gods, they get over it after you survive. Otherwise, they're nothing but supportive towards Zagreus and are eager to meet him in person.
• Adapted Out: Of the Twelve Olympians in the original myths, Apollo, Hephaestus and Hera are noticeably only mentioned (but never seen), and the game uses the interpretation that favors Dionysus over Hestia as one of the twelve. Apollo, Hphaestus, and Hestia would later appear in the sequel.
• Berserk Button: Defying the Three Fates. According to Persephone, part of the reason she chose to flee the Underworld was because she knew Olympus would fly into a rage and punish her if they learned she had defied the Fates' decree forbidding Hades from having a heir. Her heartbreak over Zagreus being stillborn certainly didn't help with this.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The original, though they seem to be capitalizing on Zagreus's ignorance to make a rosy first impression. They're all unerringly friendly to Zagreus (unless he offends them), but dialogue with and about each other tends to be filled with sniping.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • On the surface, the Olympians put on a rather cordial appearance to Zagreus being welcoming and supportive of his attempts to escape from Hades. If you slight them by taking a boon from one God over another, they will become rather spiteful though.
  • They will also claim early on they Zagreus can take all the time he needs to escape since they realize it's an insurmountable task. Occasionally Hermes will deliver messages though that cuts through facade and reveal that they are getting impatient.
• Color-Coded Characters: All of their boons, orbs and even their character designs are characterized by a key color. Zeus is yellow, Poseidon is blue, Ares is red, Artemis is green, Dionysus is purple, Aphrodite is pink, Athena is gold and white, Demeter is white and light blue, and Hermes is orange.
• Combination Attack: Duo Boons combine the abilities of the associated gods, usually adding the Status Effects of another god to Zagreus's pre-existing boons.
• Condescending Compassion: While they very much like Zagreus and would love to unite with him, they also don't hide very well that they think very little of the chthonic gods. A lot of their early conversations with Zagreus sees them dishing out a lot back-handed insults of what a terrible place the underworld must have been.
• Darker and Edgier: With Hades captured by Chronos in the second game, the Olympians all exhibit much more serious attitudes as they prepare for the possibility of a second war with the Titans, and their designs show off more battle-ready equipment like armor and weapons.
• Easily Forgiven: During a Trial of the Gods, whichever Olympian you don't choose becomes offended by the spurn and summons waves of empowered monsters, but once you clear them they are quick to forgive you and give up a Boon anyway. That said, they will begin to notice if you continue to reject them several times in a row.
• Elemental Hair Colors: As above, many of the gods' clothing and hair are color-coded to their areas of expertise, with the exception of Zeus (whose hair is a literal element instead, being made of white clouds much like how Poseidon's flows like water), Athena, and Ares.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Chaos regularly will warn Zagreus that the Olympians are helping him because it's convenient and easy to do so, not out of the goodness of their hearts or even out of sincere family loyalty.
  Chaos: They place such value on familial bonds, yet none of them remember who I am. Do not place too much faith in them, O Son of Hades.
• Fantastic Racism: They don't think highly of the chthonic pantheon, despite one of their own (Hades) being among them and their cousin/nephew (Zagreus) being raised by them.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Zagreus will occasionally be presented with a choice of choosing between two boons, with the God not chosen getting offended over the slight and attacking Zagreus for it. Zagreus will mention in a conversation with Persephone that learning first hand how vengeful they can be is making him reassess what he thinks about them.
• The Ghost: Apollo, Hephaestus, Hera, and Hestia are all mentioned in dialogue but otherwise absent, the latter two also represented by aspects of the bow and rail respectively.
• The Gods Must Be Lazy: Most of the Olympians don't consider mortals much more than occasional playthings, and even the gods who do have any concern over the world's deteriorating state (such as Dionysus) aren't motivated enough to do much about it. A lot of Hades' disdain for his extended family is due to their negligence creating much more work for the Underworld than there should be.
• Heroic Build: As you'd expect, they each literally have the body of a Greek god.
• Holy Halo: They all have rays of light shining from behind their heads to evoke this trope, which represents how they're more "celestial" gods than the Chthonic gods who preside over darker domains.
• If I Can't Have You…: During Trial of the Gods encounters, whichever god whose boon Zagreus doesn't choose will get so pissed that they try to kill him. Additionally, if Zagreus hasn't picked up any boons from a particular god during a run, that god is more than happy to aid Theseus in smiting him.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Why did the Olympians break with their policy to stay out of Underworld affairs to help Zagreus? Because they want to steal him away from Mean Ol' Uncle Hades and adopt him into the Olympian pantheon. Zeus and Poseidon especially seem to take this angle.
• Jerkass Gods: Being the old Greek gods and all, it is pretty much a given, even if they tone it down quite a bit around Zagreus because he is family after all. Still, much of their dialogue betrays their complete and utter indifference towards the lives and suffering of mortals, and they are extremely fickle and can turn on a dime, with the "Trial of the Gods" chambers being them wanting to punish Zagreus for slighting them, that is, picking another god over them.
• Large Ham: Almost all of the Olympians are this, most notably Zeus and Poseidon. But use the Greater Call when fully loaded and everyone gets hammy when they get their Pre Asskicking Oneliner.
• Light Is Not Good: They may be a whole lot brighter and more colorful than their chthonic counterparts, but they are hardly their moral superiors, caring little of the devastating collateral damage their petty family squabbles might have for mortals. Even the rosy front they show to Zagreus is quick to break the moment they stop getting their way.
• Limit Break: Save for Hermes, they provide Calls, where you can summon their direct intervention. It comes with a meter you have to fill up, which drains as it's used. Waiting until all four segments of this meter are filled makes it a Greater Call, which is usually the same as a regular Call but with a much longer duration. For instance, Athena's Call grants Zagreus some Mercy Invincibility. When used as a Greater Call, it lasts six times as long as a standard Call.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • They were never told about Zagreus being born, and would be unaware of him even existing if it weren't for Nyx assisting him.
  • The breaking of their bond with Hades came as a result of Hades being the one to cut off all communication from them. With the exception of Zeus, they're none the wiser as to why Hades suddenly became hostile and reclusive from them.
  • All of the gods are under the impression that Zagreus is breaking out of the Underworld to come and live with them on Mount Olympus. None of them (except Hermes) are aware that Zagreus is actually searching for Persephone. After Zagreus manages to get to the surface, and even brings Persephone back with him to the Underworld, they're still none the wiser, because Persephone lies to all of them.
  • This is finally changed during the Golden Ending. Persephone has Zagreus invite all the Olympians to the Underworld, giving them a technically-true version of events, which they suspect is not the whole truth, but accept nonetheless so as to bury the hatchet. At a feast in the House of Hades, Persephone tells an exaggerated but basically true story that Zagreus wanted to escape to meet his relatives, having grown tired of his father's manipulations, trying to connect the family together again. Afterward, the Olympians still assist Zagreus whenever he does his job as 'warden', even though they're now aware that he's not actually trying to reach Olympus.
• Pet the Dog: During the post-game after the Feast and learning of Zagreus' previous deception, they still continue to offer Zagreus their blessings to further assist him in his new role as the underworld's "warden."
• Polyamory: Megaera explains that gods (with exceptions such as Hades) frequently engage in multiple relationships and that monogamy is mostly a human concept because of their short lives.
• Shape Shifter Default Form: A conversation between Demeter and Aphrodite implies that the gods can take whatever form they wish, but that they each have a specific one they prefer, explaining how some can look particularly young or old despite otherwise being more or less timeless.
• Signature Move: Each god has a boon that only comes in at "Legendary" rarity and can't be upgraded by any means, as it's usually already fantastic.
  • Zeus has "Splitting Bolt", which causes all lightning effects to hit with an additional bolt of chain lightning.
  • Poseidon has "Second Wave", which causes a second instance of knockback. Both his and Zeus's also enable double instances of any associated effects, such as Sea Storm.
  • Athena has "Divine Protection", which negates incoming damage once and refreshes every 20 seconds.
  • Ares has "Vicious Cycle", which causes his blade rift effects to do more damage with each successive strike.
  • Artemis has "Fully Loaded", which adds 2 bloodstone crystals to Zagreus's ammo count.
  • Aphrodite has "Unhealthy Fixation", which adds a chance of causing charm to any move that induces Weak.
  • Dionysus has "Black Out", which causes enemies to take increased damage within Festive Fog if they are Hungover.
  • Demeter has "Winter Harvest", which just kills anything Chill-afflicted once they hit 10% HP.
  • Hermes has two, depending on which Cast-related mirror ability Zagreus is using. For Infernal Soul, he offers "Greater Recall", which causes bloodstone crystals to instantly return when they dislodge. Stygian Soul gets "Bad News", which increases shot damage by 50% against enemies that do not have a bloodstone in them.
• Status Effects: Each god also has an associated "Status Curse", which will assist damage in some manner. They are as follows:
  • Dionysus has "Hangover", which is basically a typical "damage over time" poison attribute. It can potentially do high damage, and it stacks up to five times, making it a great choice with weapons that have high rate of fire.
  • Ares has "Doom", which is a single instance of large follow-up damage. However, it takes a moment before it goes off.
  • Poseidon has "Ruptured", which does large amounts of damage at a fast rate, but only while the enemy is moving, and is only available on moves that already cause knockback. Aside from this being of great use on typically frustrating jumpy enemies, knockback also counts as movement, so you can always take advantage of it.
  • Zeus has "Jolted", which causes a large bout of follow-up damage when an affected enemy next attacks.
  • Athena has "Exposed", which boosts damage when attacking an enemy from behind.
  • Demeter has "Chilled", which slows an enemy down by a small amount, but stacks up to 10 times, potentially almost halving enemy movement and attack speed. Chill-affected enemies are also eligible for "Decay", which does large amounts of damage over time.
  • Artemis has "Marked", which increases an enemy's likelihood of sustaining a critical hit.
  • Aphrodite has "Weak", which blunts enemy damage. She also has "Charm", which causes affected enemies to ignore Zagreus and attack their allies.
• Super-Empowering: Their boons are responsible for altering, improving or even granting new abilities to Zagreus to aid him on his quest.
• Weapon Specialization: This is played around with. The various Infernal Arms you find have certain Aspects that reveal they were wielded by the original 6 Olympians during the Titanomachy, but none of them are the weapons they were particularly known for. This is explained as them all using different weaponry before finding their particular niche. Zeus for example used the shield Aegis (though in fairness, sometimes Zeus is associated with this shield in the original myths, but it's elsewise mainly Athena's weapon and even then it's one that was made long after the Titanomachy ended), but then there's Poseidon who had a sword, not a trident. Demeter of all people had the fist weapons before she learned to use cold as a weapon. And then there's Hestia, whose divine weapon is a rail gun that acts as an Anicent Greek equivalent to an AUTOMATIC RIFLE.

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Introduced in Hades

Zeus

Zeus

King of Olympus

Hades II

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced By: Peter Canavese

"...The Master of the Heavens, god among gods; so much of my mortal life was impacted by him. And now, even in death, I serve his brother."

—Codex Entry

God of the Heavens and king of the Olympian Gods, Zeus is Hades's younger brother and Zagreus's uncle. He offers boons to Zagreus and permits the other Olympians to aid in Zagreus's escape as well.

As God of the Heavens, Zeus's Weapon of Choice is the lightning bolt and he lends this power to Zagreus's attacks, adding direct lightning damage that can leap from foe to foe.

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• Aloof Big Brother: Inverted, since he's technically the youngest of his brothers (though he's lived for longer than either due to not having been swallowed by Cronos), but fulfills the trope nonetheless, being the distant and powerful Top God.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: He fills out this role as well to Hades, with some of his dialogue and mannerisms clearly betraying that he does indeed get a bit of kick out of antagonizing Hades and at least a part of his reason for helping out Zagreus is because he fully well knows how much it annoys his brother.
• Blatant Lies: Zeus is fond of mentioning Demeter's missing daughter in his conversations with Zagreus and talking about how unfortunate the whole affair is, all while acting like he’s just as mystified as anyone else, despite the fact he's absolutely aware of what happened, because he’s the one responsible. The fact he mentions it so readily might also be considered Refuge in Audacity, because surely a man (or god) that kidnapped someone wouldn’t go around loudly talking about how the victim’s mother needs to move on.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: While Zeus isn't the only god with a boon that damages enemies that hurt Zagreus, his "Heaven's Vengeance" unsurprisingly strikes offenders with lightning.
• Chain Lightning: Zeus's Boons can chain from foe to foe. There's also an upgrade that causes it to chain to more enemies, and another one that gives a chance for any lightning-based attacks to deal damage twice when they hit.
• Condescending Compassion: Early on in the game, Zeus will tell Zagreus how he and Hades previously had a falling out that he wants to repair, and that the next time Zagreus sees Hades to tell him that "[Zeus] forgives him." Goes without saying that Hades is pissed off when Zagreus tells him this especially since their falling out was entirely Zeus' fault.
• Didn't Think This Through: Hades' main issue with his younger brother is this. He considers that Zeus does whatever he fancies at a given moment without consideration for the long-term consequences. For example, Zeus realized that his older brother was lonely in the underworld, that he fancied Persephone, and that she wanted to leave Olympus. So he staged her kidnapping and brought her to Hades as a gift. And while Hades and Persephone eventually got along, Hades initially disapproved of the way his brother went through with his plan, telling Zagreus that there were dozens of ways Zeus could've achieved the same result and not saddle Hades and Persephone with the consequences of what they were doing, and the danger of Demeter finding out.
• Elemental Hair Composition: His beard appears to trail into clouds, fitting for the lord of the sky.
• Everybody Loves Zeus: Holds as true for him as the opposite trope does for his brother—which is to say, not really. Zeus is presented as helping Zagreus and offering encouragement, but is also somewhat self-absorbed and at least part of his motivation for helping Zagreus is simply that it ticks off Hades.
• Flippant Forgiveness: At one point he asks Zagreus to relay a message to Hades — that he forgives him for the incident that caused their falling-out. This "forgiveness" only serves to enrage Hades further, as he considers the incident in question to be entirely Zeus' fault (quite justifiably so, as explained below).
• God of Thunder: The most famous, natch. All of his boons are based on electricity.
• Grandpa God: As is standard for Zeus, he's depicted as an old (but still well-built) man with a long flowing white beard.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Zeus is one of two gods, the other being Ares, whose Attack and Special boons do not actually offer a buff to the damage potential of attacks and specials. Instead, Zeus' boons offer lightning damage to corresponding with attacks and his other boons offer further buffs to the lightning damage. So rather than raw damage, Zeus boons favors Area of Effect crowd control.
• It's All About Me: The most egotistical of all the Olympians, mostly aiding Zagreus as a way of getting back at his brother for staying distant.
• Karma Houdini: As the one who kidnapped Persephone to begin with, Zeus has a huge part in causing the main conflict. But since exposing Zeus would all but guarantee the godly war Hades and Persephone wish to avoid, they have to leave out his involvement entirely to ensure his cooperation.
• Magikarp Power: Zeus' lightning boons start off very weak, but get progressively better as you stack them up, and once you get his Legendary Boon, Splitting Bolt, a Zeus build can shred groups of enemies and bosses in seconds.
• Never My Fault: The incident that drove a rift between Olympus and Hades, which Zeus is willing to forgive Hades for? Zeus felt sorry for Hades being stuck with the Underworld, knew how Hades fancied Persephone, and also knew how Persephone was unhappy in Olympus. Thus, Zeus thought the best course of action was to kidnap Persephone without telling Demeter and send her to the Underworld. The only thing Hades did was disapprove of his "well-intentioned" actions. He doesn't view any of this as his fault, and his Flippant Forgiveness towards Hades only enrages his brother even further.
• Parental Favoritism: He makes it obvious that he likes Athena far more than any of his other children.
• Really Gets Around: Zigzagged. In real world mythology Zeus is legendary for his philandering, but here Demeter claims he makes most of these trysts up, saying that he's got an awful sense of humor and would have Zagreus believe he'd sired half the countryside. However, most of his children in-game are from different mothers and he will also make a suggestive comment about Nyx at one point. One of his comments when receiving his boon does have him complain about no one getting his jokes, but then Zeus says "Well, fie on them! I know all of their mothers."
• Secret-Keeper: While he doesn't know where Persephone is now, he does know why she disappeared because he was the one who abducted her in the first place and has no intention of letting Demeter or the other Olympians find out. He even goes along with Persephone's lie that she eloped with Hades just to keep that secret.
• Shock and Awe: The thunderbolt is his symbol and weapon, so this is to be expected. All of Zeus' boons are lightning-based, ranging from adding shock damage to your attack to a Call effect that bathes the entire screen in lightning bolts.
• Top God: King of the Olympian Pantheon.
• Tron Lines: His chestplate in II has them on its sides and sleeves.
• Truly Single Parent: Normally not the case, but there's an exception for Athena who was literally birthed from Zeus's mind.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's eventually revealed that he wanted to make Hades and Persephone's lives easier... by kidnapping the latter and giving her to the former as a consolatory prize. Hades is still bitter about this, even now.
• Why Are You Not My Son?: In one of his lines, he says he'd rather have Zagreus as a son rather than Ares. He also says it almost verbatim when he tells Zagreus he wishes all of his kids could've been like Zagreus.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: All of his boons and boon effects, which are all lightning focused, are colored bright yellow, as are his hair and clothing.
• You Are Already Dead: The Jolt boon grants all electrical attacks a follow-up effect of inflicting significant damage the next time an enemy attempts to attack.

Poseidon

Poseidon

Appearances: Hades, Hades II

God of the Sea

Hades II

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced by: Logan Cunningham

"...The Master of the Seas, the Earthshaker, Brother to Lord Hades and Lord Zeus... the Lord Poseidon. I am ever grateful that, while I was living, he was merciful to me. Down here, however, I must say I rarely feel his influence. All of us... we are beneath him, now."

—Codex Entry

God of the Sea and the middle brother between Hades and Zeus. Alongside the other Olympians, he lends his support to Zagreus upon learning of his existence, playing up the role of a jovial uncle to the prince.

As God of the Seas, Poseidon's power is in the waves and in the wealth of the seas, lending knockback effects and increased resource gain to Zagreus.

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• Adaptation Personality Change: A notoriously violent misanthrope in the myths, he instead acts as Zagreus’ bumbling Cool Uncle.
• Affectionate Nickname: He refers to Zagreus as "Little Hades". While that name might not be the best, considering Zagreus' strained relationship with his father, it's obvious that Poseidon means it well.
• Always Second Best: Heavily implied to feel this way towards Zeus.
• Boisterous Bruiser: While he never gets to fight personally, he seems to have the time of his life helping his nephew escape, and will boisterously interject into conversations with his other nephews and nieces.
• Cool Uncle: He certainly wants to be one, at any rate. Most of his lines to Zagreus are friendly and encouraging, and when activating his Greater Call, he goes Papa Wolf over your foes daring to hurt his nephew. Most of his interactions with Zeus's children imply they see him more as an embarrassment.
• Elemental Hair Composition: The Lord of the Ocean has long, flowing blue hair that appears to literally become water.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Most of his duo boon conversations have the other party being slightly exasperated by his presence, or they will note at his wild attitude if they see Zagreus already gotten a boon from Poseidon.
• Heal It with Water: Downplayed, but one of the benefits of "Ocean's Bounty" (items presumably drawn from the seas) is some healing.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The majority of his boons grant area-of-effect to your abilities if they do not already have them.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Wielded Stygius during the Titanomachy, and has an Aspect of it to represent that time. He will comment upon if Zagreus is wielding the blade, as will his brothers, though he admits that he wasn't very good at using it. Nowadays, he prefers his Prongs of Poseidon.
• Irony: Poseidon considers Theseus to be extremely obnoxious and requests that Zagreus defeats a fully decked out Theseus at the coliseum to knock him down a peg. The fact that the other Olympians and Hades view Poseidon in the same light makes it hilarious.
• Item Caddy: As ruler of the ocean he also presides over its vast bounty. One of his Boons increases the amount of Obols, Darkness, and Gems Zagreus can obtain by completing chambers; another simply awards Zag with a large but random stash of treasure outright. Both of these together unlock a Legendary Boon that increases the odds of finding fish to catch.
• Knockback: Poseidon's boons grant knockback to your attacks, allowing Zagreus to push foes into traps and walls for additional damage. There are also a few boons that enhance the power of this knockback or create additional area-of-effect hits when enemies are knocked into walls. This doesn't work on bosses, but there's another boon from Poseidon that allows effects that would have caused knockback to deal additional damage to bosses instead.
• Lord of the Ocean: His position in the Olympian Pantheon is the god of the seas.
• Magikarp Power: Fittingly. His attack boons are poor against bosses since knockback can't move them, and Poseidon is among the very few gods that cannot apply a status effect with their attack buffs alone, on top of having a low base attack buff. However with additional boons to convert his knockback effect into more damage on bosses, and one to apply his status debuff on attacks, Poseidon's kit can eventually become near universally effective and powerful. This reaches the point of overcoming Aphrodite's damage values and having utility to match practically all other gods.
• Making a Splash: Should Poseidon grant you a boon, you get several ocean-themed powers that knockback enemies into each other and environmental hazards. His Call also has Zagreus surfing across a wave beneath him.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Unlike other gods, who offer consistent bonuses at different going rates, Poseidon's boons offer low boosts to Attack damage and strong boons to Special damage, so the player will need to be more intimately familiar with the weapon they're using to get the most out of his help.
• Middle Child Syndrome: Chaos will typically give Stealth Insult of the Olympian Gods should Zagreus approach them after getting a boon from one of them. With Poseidon, Chaos doesn't mince words by saying that Poseidon manages to possess the worst traits of both Zeus and Hades.
• Old Shame: A couple of In-Universe examples.
  • After Zagreus encounters the Minotaur, Poseidon will bring it up in conversation and explain it's there because of a long, sordid story that was ultimately on him.
  • Poseidon was originally a swordsman, even having a signature BFS which Zagreus can channel as one of the Stygian Blade aspects, but he gave it up because he was terrible with it. Hades ended up teaching him how to fight with a spear, something Poseidon became renowned with the mortals for.
• Papa Wolf: He's not just glad to bring Zagreus aboard, he is intensely protective of him. Athena tells that once she told the family of Zagreus' plight, Poseidon was the first to jump in to help, and his Greater Call lines are less boastful and more direct:
  Poseidon: GET AWAY FROM MY NEPHEW!
• Prongs of Poseidon: The Trope Namer. It is the symbol on his boons and he is holding it in his image. Don't expect to be able to borrow it, though.
• Stealing the Credit: According to Hades, he was the one who taught Poseidon how to fight with his trident, after Poseidon gave up on using a sword. Much to Hades' annoyance, Poseidon became so renowned to the point where he is now associated with the weapon.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Downplayed. Poseidon's knockback and slam buff specialization run the gamut of being incredibly useful in Tartarus while less so in Asphodel and Elysium ^explanationThe level layouts in Tartarus are more condensed compared to the rather open fields of the latter two, and Elysium doesn't have Asphodel's magma flows, so the player has to work a bit harder to slam enemies into objects/walls. And then it gets particularly a lot of mileage in Styx, where the corridors are so cramped it makes it easy to juggle enemies against the walls.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Implied. Certain myths portray Poseidon as the father of Theseus, but according to Poseidon, these are just rumors spread by Zeus, though whether or not that really is the case or simply Poseidon trying to save face is left unknown.
• Verbal Backpedaling: Has a conversation with Zagreus (if Zag already has a Boon from Zeus) where Poseidon praises his little brother but adds that he is actually stronger and more handsome. Zeus immediately enters the conversation and Poseidon is forced to rephrase his last sentence to make Zeus look even better.
• Water Is Blue: God of the oceans and the sea, his hair, clothing, and all of boons are shades of blue to emphasize the connection.
• You Remind Me of X: Implied. The way he affectionately refers to Zagreus as "Little Hades", seems to indicate that his nephew reminds him of his brother back when they both where young.

Athena

Athena

Appearances: Hades

Goddess of Wisdom

Appearances: Hades
Voiced by: Marin Miller

"...Of some things I am certain, and one of them is this: That there were many times, during my mortal life when my spear found its mark thanks to Pallas Athena."

—Codex Entry

Daughter of Zeus and goddess Metis and cousin of Zagreus, the patron deity of the city of Athens (and of Achilles during the Trojan War) and the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle, Athena is the first deity contacted by Nyx and adds her power to Zagreus in a bid to have her cousin escape his unjust imprisonment, eventually leading to the other Olympians joining in as well.

Being the goddess of wisdom and military strategy, Athena's boons are based around providing invincibility frames and deflecting attacks, her boons generally having non-flashy but defensive effects.

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• Apologetic Attacker: If refused in a trial of the gods' room, she will punish Zagreus like the rest, but without any malice or anger, saying it's just what her position requires.
• Attack Reflector: The crux of her boons, giving your powers the ability to reflect attacks they hit, and in the case of projectiles return them to their owner.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Chaos speculates that the real reason Athena is so eager to help Zagreus escape the Underworld is that she sees him "as a tool with which her broken family may yet be mended."
• Barrier Warrior: Most of her boons are based around weaponizing barriers to reflect attacks back onto attackers.
• Big Brother Mentor: Athena fits the traditional archetype, being the first of the Olympians to reach out to Zagreus and offering him advice and guidance in all of their conversations. Whenever offered Nectar or Ambrosia, Athena always tries to decline it since she cares more about Zagreus' well-being than being rewarded for her help.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Aphrodite, Demeter, and Artemis all assert that Athena's apparent benevolence is an act and that she's usually a condescending Insufferable Genius when not sucking up to Zagreus. Her often passive-aggressive interactions with other Olympians in their Duo Boon conversations do little to counter these accusations. This should however be taken with a grain of salt, seeing how both Aphrodite and Demeter aren't exactly angels themselves and quite fond of throwing around thinly veiled insults.
• Boring, but Practical: Her boons don't make you shoot lightning, cause massive splashes of water, or make massive clouds of poison. They just protect you...from everything. The flashiest this gets is deflecting enemy attacks back on them (which, with bullet hell-type enemies, can stack up fast) but it's still a matter of pragmatism over anything else.
• Comeback Mechanic: Athena has several boons that aid Zagreus's Death Defiance, allowing him to defy death additional times and with greater benefits than usual.
• Consummate Professional: Athena's conversations with Zagreus tend to get less personal with Zagreus compared to the other Olympians. She's the only one who doesn't give Zagreus an Affectionate Nickname, or share details of her personal life or interests, because her focus is always focused squarely on assisting Zagreus to escape. She even tries to dissuade him from giving her gifts like Nectar or Ambrosia.
• Establishing Character Moment: Meeting her serves as this for all of the Olympians. Athena is programmed to always be the first Olympian god that Zagreus meets in a playthrough, regardless of any other factor. And it's Athena who establishes that Olympus is helping Zagreus escape the underworld, and that he's doing it under the pretense that he wants to join his relatives on Mount Olympus.
• Foil: To Ares. Both are gods of war, but she represents the "War Is Glorious" side of the battle, while Ares is the incarnation of the "War Is Hell" side. In gameplay, her boons are centered in boosting Zagreus' defense, while Ares is all about increasing his offense. Ironically, the time delay on Ares' boons suggests a more defensive playstyle, while the protective aspects of Athena's promote a more aggressive style. In their Duo Boon dialogue, they are disapproving of each other.
  Athena: My warlike brother Ares reached you, didn't he. I've always found his conduct quite disturbing. At least it seems he's helping you for now.
• Gold and White Are Divine: While the other gods who have either a specific personality based color association (violent Ares with red, chipper Hermes with orange, lusty Aphrodite with pink), an elemental association (Zeus with yellow lightning, Poseidon and blue water, Artemis with green nature), or an obvious association with an object (wine god Dionysus with purple), because Athena doesn't have a distinct enough color association, she ends up with gold and white (and with her attack boon on Lucifer Rail, bright, white blue) as her defining colors to highlight her divinity and status as the most moral of all the gods in terms of actual morality.
• In the Back: Occasionally grants access to the 'Exposed' debuff, which boosts Back Stab damage. Makes sense as a goddess of strategy and tactics.
• Jerkass to One: Athena is rather cordial and respectful to her fellow Olympians, even with Ares despite how much they butt heads. Aphrodite is the one exception; the two will openly insult the other in front of Zagreus and make no attempt to get along.
• Karmic Jackpot: Chaos theorizes (and Athena later confirms) that part of her motivation for seeking the other Olympians to help Zagreus is that she believes that this can be the first step in mending the divide between the Olympians and the chthonic gods. This proves to work out much better than Athena hoped for, as the entire ordeal ultimately brings to light the mystery surrounding Persephone's disappearance as well, culminating in a feast in the House of Hades where the rift between the two sets of gods is mended.
• Lady of War: Stoic, graceful and refined, her boons emphasize the tactics of battle and dodging enemies' attacks.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Wields the original Aegis, and will comment if Zagreus wields a shield as well. Her entire Boon set is based around shielding Zagreus.
• Mercy Invincibility: One of her boons grant Zagreus this by making him invincible for a short period after being struck and automatically reflecting any attack hitting him. Her Call grants several seconds of it, with her greater Call making him invincible for even longer.
• Only Sane Woman:
  • She is the goddess of wisdom, for one. She's also probably the most outright benevolent Olympian, aiding Zagreus partially because it's the right thing to do and not just because they're family... but still mostly because they're family.
  • During Trials of the Gods, she doesn't hold your choice against you heavily if you don't choose her boons, saying that what comes next is of pure necessity on her part, as opposed to her siblings, father and uncle getting rather angry over it.
• The Owl-Knowing One: It is one of her symbols, and she is depicted holding one. Her memento if given Nectar is also an owl pendant.
• The Rival: She is not fond of Ares, the two being war gods of opposite outlooks and temperament.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: If she and Aphrodite pair up, she immediately voices her disdain, but pushes it aside in favor of helping Zagreus. Even by Olympians standards the two just flat out don't like each other, and their duo boons often result in Zagreus getting thrown into the middle of their beef.
• Stone Wall: Her boons focus on defense instead of attack. The few boons of hers that increase attack power also do so less than the other gods' boons do. Her Call also doesn't do any damage by itself, instead just making Zagreus temporarily invincible while deflecting anything that hits him.
• Think Nothing of It: Athena frequently tries to dissuade Zagreus any time he gifts her a bottle of nectar because she isn't looking to be rewarded for helping him.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed: most of the gods are merely temperamental and wishy-washy rather than evil, but Athena was the one Olympian willing to help simply because it's the right thing to do, and genuinely comes to respect her cousin as a member of her family if her bond is maxed out. On the other hand, she's just as willing to punish Zagreus for choosing another god's boon over hers when a choice is given, and comments from the other Olympians imply that her benevolence is just an act.
• War God: Alongside Ares, her brother, and also his foil and rival. He represents the bloodbath, while she represents military strategy.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Goddess of Love

Hades II

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced by: Courtney Vineys

"...Aphrodite wields her beauty and her charm with much the same lethality as I could wield the spear. I have seen her handiwork first-hand, and it is often not as pretty as she is."

—Codex Entry

Goddess of Love and 'daughter' of Uranus, Aphrodite is the embodiment of the Greek concept of eros. She joins with many of her fellow Olympians in aiding Zagreus escape from the Underworld.

Aphrodite's power grants Zagreus access to the 'Weak' debuff: Enemies hit by weakening attacks will deal half damage to Zagreus.

---

• Adaptational Modesty: She is still nearly butt-naked, but in Hades II she wears leg and arm armour.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Makes some oblique hints to her affair with Ares.
• Alpha Bitch: Despite being the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite can be particularly venomous towards the other Olympians. She flat out does not like Poseidon and especially Athena, likes to pick on Artemis, and frequently trades barbs with Zeus and Demeter. The only ones she seems to get along with are Ares and Dionysus.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Like any god, you turn down in a Trial of the Gods, she'll send monsters after you and hit the area with blasts that (in her case) weaken you. In gameplay terms, Aphrodite of all people has the highest damage percentages and ratios on her boons, meaning of all the Olympians sending you help, it's the cheery goddess of love's that allows you to hit the hardest.
• Cardiovascular Love: Aphrodite is the goddess of love. Fittingly, her boons and corresponding status effect "Charm" are marked with a pink heart.
• Charm Person: Her main Status Effect. While it merely Weakens them by default to deal less damage, Unhealthy Fixation gives any attack that can Weaken a foe a 15% chance of briefly turning them to your side.
• Cheery Pink: In contrast to the serious Athena, cold Demeter, and aloof and awkward Artemis, Aphrodite is playful, flirtatious, and upbeat. She's associated with the color pink, which fits her femininity and love/seduction theme as well.
• Close-Range Combatant: Her boons work well with close-combat builds and weaponry, since they reduce damage taken from enemy attacks (and can amplify this for close-range attackers) and she offers the highest damage boosts. Her Dash boon applies its effect when Zagreus reaches his opponent, emphasizing charging into opponents to afflict them with Weak. Her Cast boon turns it into a Short-Range Shotgun with a spread as well.
• Curtains Match the Windows: She has pink hair and pink eyes.
• Diamonds in the Buff: Aphrodite appears to Zagreus wearing golden bracelets and armbands...and nothing else. Her hair covers the naughty bits.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Aphrodite's 'Sweet Surrender' boon buffs her Weak Status Ailment to also make the enemy inflicted with it more susceptible to damage.
• Femme Fatale: A beautiful goddess whose boons are based around infatuating foes and exploiting the vulnerability it causes.
• Flowers of Femininity: The most feminine goddess in the game, she is shown with little blooms adorning her head.
• Floral Motifs: Her keepsake is a rose, a flower known both for its beauty, its connection to love, and for having stinging thorns that make it risky to handle. Similarly, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is beautiful and offers you boons with some of the highest damage modifiers in the game.
• Godiva Hair: Aphrodite is depicted as a nude woman draped in jewelry, with her hair covering only the bare essentials. In her wall scroll, her hair only covers her chest while her crotch is bare, but the angle is such that nothing explicit is seen.
• Hartman Hips: This depiction of her has a thick lower body.
• Heart Beatdown:
  • Grants Zagreus Heartbreak Strike, Heartbreak Flourish, and Crush, which allow Zagreus to literally beatdown his enemies with The Power of Love.
  • If you don't pick her boon in a Trial of the Gods room, she attacks you with homing hearts that can't be deflected, and stun Zagreus if they connect.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Achilles notes in his codex that among all of the Olympians, Aphrodite terrifies him the most, as her domain is one that has much further-reaching consequences than a lightning bolt or a flood. In gameplay, Aphrodite's damage boosts offer the best numbers of any godly boons, making her a great way to maximize Zagreus's damage. Her Charm status acts as a dangerous crowd-control effect that can afflict any enemy, even Hades. If she is angered in the Trial of the Gods, her projectiles are among the most dangerous, persistent, and hard to evade.
• Hypocrite: She snipes in their duo boon that Artemis is so focused on the hunt that she's neglected to pick up "social graces". Artemis rightly points out that walking around in the nude is hardly a display of good social graces.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Downplayed. The fact she has long pink Godiva Hair isn't improbable by itself. However, the fact that her hair swishes into heart-shaped curls most certainly is.
• Lethal Joke Item: Her Greater Call. Charm by itself isn't terribly useful, only lasting a few seconds and expiring almost immediately against bosses. Fill the meter completely and the projectile will deal 2500 damage, far and away the strongest single hit from a Call.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Her voluminous hair is used to accentuate her natural beauty, barely concealing her privates and curving into the shape of hearts at the ends.
• Love at First Punch: Her Crush boon is a close-range Megaton Punch that induces this.
• Love Goddess: The love goddess of the Olympian Pantheon. She openly flirts with just about everyone, male or female. Also, the way her Relationship Values are fully unlocked is to get a Relationship Upgrade with all three possible Love Interests.
• Love Hurts: Achilles considers her more dangerous than the rest of the gods because, in his words, "a crashing wave or thundering tempest are preferable to a broken heart." Also, her boons have the highest damage modifiers of all the Olympian gods.
• Ms. Fanservice: She has the most risque design of all the female characters in the game, wearing nothing except some jewelry with her hair covering up anything too explicit.
• Pink Is Erotic: Aphrodite is a lustful and flirty goddess of love, and her eyes, symbol, boons, and hair are all pink. Aphrodite is also the only character who appears in the nude, and her boons are themed around charm and seduction.
• The Power of Love: Her domain, naturally. Most of her boons seem to revolve around the fact that Love Hurts.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: She is a woman with long pink hair, and is very sweet and approachable to Zagreus. However, it's still not a good idea to get on her bad side.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Her portrait depicts her as naked except for some jewelry, with her hair covering the naughty bits. She never brings this up, but considering she's the Love Goddess of Olympus, she probably isn't too concerned with civility.
• Shipper on Deck: As befitting her nature, she'll ship Zagreus with just about anyone (when she's not flirting with him directly):
  • If you get Artemis's boon before hers, Aphrodite may (jokingly?) note that her reaching out to you is really cute and tell you to take it slow. In the Duo Boon conversation, she'll even tease Artemis about it in her presence, causing Artemis to become very flustered.
  • She's acutely aware of the Unresolved Sexual Tension between Zagreus and Megaera. If the two end up becoming intimate again, she'll chime in later and tell him she's delighted they managed to work things out.
  • She'll also note if Zagreus gets sweet on Dusa.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Athena. The two go together like water and oil, and they cannot hold a conversation with one another without it descending into Volleying Insults.
• Something about a Rose: Will gift Zagreus a rose if given Nectar and she is a lascivious, flirtatious goddess who gives you some of the hardest hitting boons in the game.
• The Tease: Repeatedly flirts with Zagreus when contacted. If summoned with a Greater Call, she'll also express fury that someone is threatening "her little godling." Since she's a Love Goddess, it fits perfectly.
• Woman Scorned: If you pick another god over her in a choice room—but she gets over it quickly.

Artemis

Artemis

Goddess of the Hunt

Hades II

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced by: Jamie Landrum

"...The goddess of the hunt has always held my highest admiration. Unlike so many of her brethren on Olympus, she seems unconcerned with being praised at every turn by mortals, and instead, she dutifully holds her station as a master of the natural world."

—Codex Entry

The Goddess of Hunting and the Wilderness, daughter of Zeus and the twin sister of Apollo, Artemis eventually decides to lend her power to Zagreus after he has attempted to escape a few times.

As a divine huntress, Artemis' power is based around Critical Hits, giving Zagreus's attacks the chance to deal triple damage. She is also the source of several bonuses to his Cast ability.

Returning in Hades II, Artemis is no longer a typical boon-giver like the previous game and instead interacts with Melinoë person-to-person, providing her aid in battle in whatever chamber Melinoë encounters her. Their interactions indicate a friendship and history with each other.

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• Adaptational Nice Girl: In the myths, she expelled Callisto from her hunters for either being seduced or raped by Zeus, leaving the poor girl at the mercy of a vengeful Hera who turned her into a bear. In the game, she and Callisto are still best friends (and possibly more) and turning into a bear is just something she can do, apparently.
• Aloof Archer: A Master Archer goddess who is usually aloof and stoic and has associations with the wild through her hunting.
• Always Accurate Attack: Artemis' cast, True Shot, and her Call both offer tracking to more accurately hone in on the closest enemy. They can even attack through the defenses of the Great Shields and Theseus' shield. Artemis' duo boons with Ares and Demeter (Hunting Blades and Crystal Clarity, respectively) add tracking to their casts as well.
• Ambiguously Bi: Artemis is known for her Vow of Celibacy, and complains about her annoyance at and complete disinterest in her many unwanted male suitors when she'd rather spend more time with her female companions (particularly her nymph friend Callisto, whom she seems the fondest of). However, Aphrodite can tease her about being flustered in Zagreus' presence...though even Aphrodite acknowledges that this could be due to her presence, as well. She's also a big fan of Achilles, though it's not clear if she's romantically interested in him or not.
• Assist Character: In II, Melinoë can randomly enter a chamber where Artemis offers assistance from offscreen, marking enemies with her crosshair that then take bonus damage from Melinoë's attacks.
• Braids of Action: As a huntress, she is the most tomboyish goddess in the game, and fittingly has her hair in a thick long braid.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Platonically and Played for Laughs towards Zagreus. One of her duo boons with Athena can have Artemis rather passive-aggressively state that she's annoyed with Athena hogging so much time with Zagreus. This is rather humorous given that historically Apollo was noted as being the same way towards Artemis, to her annoyance.
• Cool Big Sis: Her relationship with Zagreus has elements of this, with her acting as sort of an aloof role model and chiding him when he does things she doesn't approve of such as befriending Dionysus. This same dynamic extends to Zag's own sister, Melinoë, whom she actually addresses as her "sister" the first time they meet during a run.
• Cosmic Motifs: Though the game doesn't focus as much on her other traditional domain of the moon, it is still present in her design: she wears a crown made of the moon's phases and has a chest emblem that looks like a crescent moon.
• Critical Hit Class: All her Boons have a chance for critical hits, grant the chance for all attacks to deal critical hits, buff critical hits to do more damage, or buff your Cast. With critical hits. One of her Duo boons even gives the chance for any source of damage to deal critical hits, like Zeus's Jolted status or Ares's Doom effects.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Artemis' Support Fire boon doesn't do much damage per hit, but it fires a seeking arrow for each Attack, Special, or Cast, so a fast-striking weapon can rack up quite a few of them and kill a nearby enemy through spam.
• Doesn't Like Guns: She'll question your use of the Adamant Rail, since it is rather noisy and doesn't seem like it would be very good as a hunting weapon. She prefers the good old bow and arrow, of course.
• Friendship Moment: Should Zagreus build up his relationship with Artemis, she will admit that she considers him to be one of her best friends, even considering the long-distance nature of their relationship.
• Gathering Steam: Her Call seems pretty mediocre at first, as it simply flings out a single homing projectile that does reasonable-but-steadily-outclassed damage. At full charge, it fires a volley of ten of those arrows instead. With each projectile having a 30% chance to critically hit and deal two to three times the base damage. Use it correctly and she can annihilate the health bars of the various bosses. Fittingly for the Goddess of the Hunt, if you want to land that perfect one-shot kill, you have to wait patiently and time your strike.
• Green Means Natural: She's the goddess of the hunt and the wilderness and is depicted wearing all green. Her boons are also colored green both in the selection menu and are colored green when used by Zagreus.
• The Hermit: Artemis doesn't really care for the other Olympian gods at all and spends most of her time alone on the hunt. Dionysus has tried more than once to include her in his usual feasting and revelry, but she can't stand the noise.
• Homing Projectile:
  • Her Call takes the form of a homing arrow. Her Greater Call is a barrage of homing arrows that strikes all nearby foes, or just annihilates one of them in particular.
  • Support Fire fires a homing projectile at a nearby enemy every time Zagreus uses his Attack, Special, or Cast.
  • She can also buff Zagreus's Cast to go faster and become unerringly accurate.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!":
  • Turns out to be an Achilles fan if you gain her favor enough, and asks Zagreus to relay her regards. Naturally she will recognize the Aspect of Achilles and gush about how many mortals got "completely slaughtered" by it.
  • If Zagreus contacts her while using Coronacht, she'll eagerly tell him to take it up to Olympus so she can try it out.
• Magic Knight: Not in the traditional sense, but Artemis' boons favors boosting Zagreus' critical hit chances and expanding his cast abilities. Exit Wounds causes additional damage to an enemy when cast stones are dislodged for them, while Fully Loaded adds Zagreus two additional cast stones to his ammo. Half of her duo boons ^note Hunting Blades with Ares, Crystal Clarity with Demeter, Mirage Shot with Poseidon, and Lightning Rod with Zeus focus on either expanding the power of the cast or adding additional utility to the cast stones themselves.
• Magic Missile Storm: Her Support Fire Boon causes Zagreus to launch a homing projectile any time he hits with a basic attack, special attack, or uses his Cast. Whilst these are individually very weak, they pair very nicely with either the Twin Fists of Malphon or Exagryph, the Adamant Rail, given their rapid basic attacks will have you launching a constant stream of projectiles for extra chip damage. For bonus points, the missiles also get in some Roboteching.
• Magikarp Power: Artemis' Aid, her call, works this way interestingly enough. It has a lower cost than the other calls ^note It can be used at a 20% charge, compared to the 25% the other gods require but it's arguably the lowest damaging of the calls. Fully charging it into a Greater Call, however, gives it the potential to be the highest damaging of them all, outperforming even Aphrodite's due to the crit chance.
• Master Archer: Per mythology, she is a divine huntress and is depicted with a bow and arrows. She will comment the first time you pick her Boon while wielding the bow, and will give Zagreus an arrowhead as a gift if given Nectar. This manifests in gameplay through her boons, which increase your chances of critical hits and fire Homing Projectiles.
• Nice to the Waiter: Artemis notes to Zagreus that she considers Callisto and the other forest Nymphs her closest friends. You can learn later from Eurydice that nymphs are often treated like lesser deities, so the fact that Artemis treats them as equals is rather telling.
• No Social Skills: Her dialogue when attempting to show thanks or express emotion is rather stilted and awkward. As some of the other gods' note, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, so she spends a lot of her time alone in the woods with no one to talk to, aside from a few nymph friends.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • In the Codex, Achilles speculates that Hades, for all he resents and gripes about his "irresponsible" Olympian relatives, might actually get along with his similarly aloof and dutiful niece if he tried.
    Achilles: If only my Lord Hades understood that someone such as Artemis could be someone to confide in, rather than resent along with all the others on Olympus.
  • Artemis bonds with Zagreus because from her point of view, she feels like they both share similar circumstances with their rocky relationships with their respective fathers and not fitting in in the place that is supposed to be considered their home. Though with Zagreus it proves to be a bit more complicated than at first glance.
• Not So Stoic: Her usual reaction to being passed over in the Trials is Tranquil Fury.
  Artemis: "Why would you side with—?! Urgh, why do I even bother with some half-god..."
• Old Friend: She refers to Melinoë as "sister" and the two speak with fondness and familiarity, implying Melinoë is close to the Goddess of the Hunt.
  Artemis: "It's been too long, Sister. Look at you, on your great hunt! Not ideal circumstances but you've finally begun. Know that your family has your back, surprised as they are about this."
  Melinoë: "No shortage of surprises lately on Olympus or below. It's good to see you Artemis. But I must be off. Time's against us and all that."
  Artemis: "Time's an old fool too busy besieging the mountain of the gods to sense the thread headed his way. Go get him."
• Only Friend: If Zagreus gets close to her, she'll begin telling him stories of her adventures with Callisto the wood nymph, who can apparently shapeshift into a bear. However, there are some later implications that she and Callisto are more than just friends.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Callisto. Ostensibly. Her warm tone of voice when she describes her best friend as "my Callisto" is, naturally, up to interpretation.
• The Quiet One: She doesn't speak much, and the other Olympians aren't entirely sure why she's helping Zagreus in the first place. She herself mentions that she appreciates Zagreus's lack of unnecessary chit-chat.
• Tsundere: As Zagreus speaks with her and gives her nectar, it becomes clear that she's overwhelmed by the positive attention ("I won't interfere with your hunt, I'll just.. um, silently watch everything you do.") but has no idea how to express it except by panicking and dropping the "call." Aphrodite seems to pick up on it and interprets this as a crush. Of course.
• Unblockable Attack: Her upgrades to the Cast make it into this, along with the Call and Greater Call being unblockable.
• Utility Party Member: While Artemis' Attack, Special and Cast all offer boost to increase their attacking power, the majority of Artemis boons focus primarily on increasing Zagreus' critical-hit potential and providing additional passive utilities.
  • Hunter Dash boosts Zagreus' Dash Strike. This is notably the only boon outside of Chaos that gives Zagreus a boost to this attack.
  • Support Fire offers a passive additional tracking around to all of Zagreus' base attacks, specials, and casts.
  • Pressure Points gives every attack a chance to be critical.
  • Exit Wounds: causes foes to suffer passive dislodge damage any time cast stones are removed.
  • Fully Loaded, her Legendary Boon, increases the number of casts by 2.
  • All of her duo boons fittingly offer buffs to the boon provided by the other god.
• Weak, but Skilled: Gameplay-wise of the attack boosting boons ^note Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, Poseidon, and Artemis, Artemis offers the lowest flat buff to attack strength, but this comes with her also granting increased critical hint chances to her attack, special, and cast boons.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Gets implied during her Duo Bond conversations with Zeus that she has a rather strained relationship with her father. She makes efforts to be the dutiful daughter, even trying to give him a grand introduction in one of the conversations, but he constantly returns it by giving her backhanded putdowns.
• You Are Not Alone: If Zagreus befriends her, Artemis will occasionally encourage him with this line when he picks up one of her boons.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The fact that her brother Ares attempts to pull a Birds of a Feather card due to his considering War and Hunt to being two sides of the same coin creeps Artemis out.

Ares

Ares

God of War

Appearances: Hades
Voiced by: Cyrus Nemati

"...Although my heart has long since stopped, it yet holds love in it for all the gods, save one, the one who made and ruined me as well. I have no kind words to impart to him, except, perhaps, in the form of this concession: War, much like the heavens and the sea, can be considered as a force of nature."

—Codex Entry

Greek God of War in its forms of brutality, bloodlust and violence, and the son of Zeus and Hera. When he learns of Zagreus's predicament Ares gleefully offers his Boons to his cousin, so that Zagreus may carve a bloody swathe of mayhem through the Underworld on his way out.

Ares's Boons grant Zagreus's attacks the 'Doom' debuff, which will inflict massive damage on opponents after they are struck, and his powers can create blade rifts that deal repeated unblockable damage to anyone walking over them.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Non-Romantic examples.
  • In his Duo boon with Artemis, he's pleased to try and work together since he finds the Hunt and War to be fairly similar domains. Artemis does not reciprocate.
  • He's also one to Nyx, though it's Zagreus who's wary about that one. Nyx implies she might actually like the attention.
  • Thanatos is rather nonplussed when Zagreus tells him how much Ares sings his praises. When asked what his opinion on Ares is, Thanatos admits that he dislikes Ares' views on death but at least appreciates that he is actually cordial with him unlike most of the other Olympians.
• Affably Evil: His general demeanor is calm and collegial, though this comes in the form of praising Zagreus' immense skill at killing. It extends beyond Zagreus as well; Thanatos will comment that Ares is the only Olympian to treat him with anything beyond cold courtesy, and other Olympians will mention how they find his polite bloodlust to be offputting.
• Animal Motifs: Vultures. His chest plate shows a raven's head, and there are long, black feathers attached to his shoulder pieces. Vultures are often seen as bad omens and can be associated with the battlefield as they are scavengers and would appreciate the carnage.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He's pretty arrogant about his boons, and whenever he notices Zagreus already having someone else's, he'll mention how his are better or will help Zagreus more than the others.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: In contrast to Athena, Ares's boons specialize on one thing: Damage.
• Big Brother Mentor: Ares sees Zagreus as a fellow student of death and tries to take him under his wing to guide him into becoming more bloodthirsty. Athena and Artemis in particular are wary that Ares will be a Toxic Friend Influence for Zagreus while Zeus is hoping for the reverse and that Zagreus will become a positive influence for Ares.
• Black Sheep: None of the Olympians save Aphrodite are terribly fond of Ares and will at best damn him with faint praise.
• Blood Knight: To absolutely no-one's surprise, Ares loves war and mayhem.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: As the God of War Ares revels in all manner of death and violence and supports Zagreus not only so he can escape, but so that he can kill more along the way. His joy at death is not shared even by the Chthonic Gods - who treat it more as a mundane aspect of their jobs - leaving Ares at best tolerated and at worst outright disliked by his fellow Gods of all stripes. The only one he seems to get on well with is Zagreus and, surprisingly, Nyx, two gods associated with death and the underworld.
• Born in the Wrong Century: One of his monologues to Zagreus has him expressing disappointment at being part of the 2nd generation of Olympians, and wishing he could have existed sooner so he could have participated in the Titanomachy alongside his parents.
• Chain Lethality Enabler: The Battle Rage boon makes your next attack or special after slaying a foe deal more damage.
• Cold Ham: While he's usually calm and hardly ever raises his voice even when he's angry, his dialogue still makes clear that he's a Blood Knight, and he often waxes poetic about the glories of war and bloodshed.
• Damage Over Time: His signature status effect, Doom, applies a large stack of damage at once, but it takes time to trigger. Two of his Duo Boons are built on this concept as well - his Duo with Aphrodite, Curse of Longing, causes Doom to repeatedly hit someone affected by Weak, making Doom act more like a traditional Damage Over Time effect, and his Duo with Dionysus, Curse of Nausea, increases how quickly a foe takes damage from Hangover.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: His blade rift effects don't do much power with each individual hit. But there's a lot of them, which racks up the damage quickly. There's also a boon that causes each successive hit from a blade rift to deal more damage than the last one.
• Elite Tweak: Artemis's Duo Boon causes his Blade Rifts to home in on enemies, greatly increasing their utility and damage potential. Ironic seeing as she hates working with the guy.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: If Zagreus builds a close relationship with Thanatos, Ares will (naturally given his love for violence) approve but will express surprise that Thanatos, the God of Death, would have love for anyone besides himself.
• Evil Counterpart: To Athena. Both count war as part of their domain, but while Athena represents tactics and discipline, Ares is the embodiment of violence for the sake of violence.
• Evil Is Petty: Invoked with his Duo Boon with his father, Zeus. Vengeful Mood allows any "Revenge Boon" ^note Aphrodite's Wave of Despair, Ares' Curse of Vengenace, Athena's Holy Shield, Demeter's Frozen Touch, or Zeus' Heaven's Vengeance to strike a foe within range every three seconds as long as the player has already accepted the boon. In other words, this Duo Boon literally allows Zagreus to strike an enemy with a revenge boon, just because he can.
• Fanboy: He apparently has high respect for Thanatos and if Zagreus has high affection for Thanatos, Ares will sometimes tell Zagreus to send the god of death his regards or just take time to ask if he was doing well. He'll also totally be on board if Zagreus and Thanatos become an item, saying Zagreus picked a good mate.
• Foil: To Athena. Both are gods of war, but while Ares represents the death and bloodshed of battle, Athena represents strategy and honorable combat. In gameplay, Ares' boons are exclusively offensive, while Athena's are defensive. Ironically, the time delay on Ares' boons suggests a more defensive playstyle, while the protective aspects of Athena's promote a more aggressive style. They disapprove of each other in their Duo Boon dialogue.
  Ares: You bear the blessing of Athena, yes? She would protect you from your enemies, whilst I would rather that you slay them, and be done.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: None of the other Olympians like him, which is understandable since he's the closest thing Greek myth has to a God of Evil. He is nothing but friendly to Zagreus, however, and doesn't seem to resent anyone in his family for their dislike of him, implying that their dislike is based more on his domain than personality.
• Hidden Depths:
  • A conversation with Chaos will reveal that, surprisingly, Ares is one of the few who still worships them. However, it's implied that Ares' worship of Chaos is misplaced, since the original ancient Greek meaning of "chaos" was the vast, infinite void rather than the modern definition of violence and disorder.
  • He also mentions having studied "all the Fates' designs" and is the only god who expresses familiarity with Excalibur, implying that he knows far more about the future than even Athena.
  • He's the only one besides Achilles^*who technically only theorized it and wasn't certain to deduce that Zagreus is the god of blood, despite having very limited contact with him.
• In Love with Your Carnage: He takes an interest in Zagreus as a "fellow student of death" and expresses much approval over his impressive body count. The way to fully unlock his affection rating is to kill at least ten thousand enemies, and winning a Trial of the Gods against him has Ares be satisfied with the death that Zagreus dealt to let the transgression slide. He's also very fond of Thanatos, what with him being Death incarnate and all, and even implies himself to be a Hopeless Suitor.
• Just Think of the Potential!: Ares will excitedly comment on the potential of Exagryph's design in future wars if Zagreus is wielding it.
• Light Is Not Good: Ares wears predominantly white accented with gold, but he represents the violent, chaotic aspects of war, and absolutely revels in them.
• Likes Older Women: He is somewhat infatuated with Nyx. Nyx, surprisingly, seems to appreciate his affection.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: His boons generally gear towards either Doom or blade rift usage, with little ability to cross them into something powerful, but plenty of potential to cross them with other gods' boons. Players who want to do an Ares-solo run will need to know what they're doing.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Ares has a fixation on chthonic gods—particularly Zagreus, Thanatos, and Nyx—because they represent blood, death, and darkness.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are blood red and he's a violent Blood Knight.
• Red Is Violent: All of his powers and status effects are colored red, and he represents the brutality of war.
• The Rival: To Athena, being the embodiment of opposite forms of warfare.
• Shipper on Deck: He'll take notice if Zagreus starts spending more time with Thanatos; since he holds the latter in high regard, he's quick to express his approval.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Despite his enthusiasm for pain and death, he is one of the least hammy of the Olympians, and his tone of voice is always calm even when he's talking about violence.
• Spin Attack: Most of his boons involve "Blade Rifts", spinning vortexes of swords. The closest to the normal trope is his call, which temporally transforms Zagreus INTO a blade rift.
• Token Evil Teammate:
  • Downplayed, as he kills for the joy of killing, but is not seen or mentioned doing anything abnormally vile by the god's standards, and is among the more polite of the Olympian gods. He is also the only god that Achilles has no love for.
  • Ares will also voice his admiration of Hades since he views War and Death as going hand and hand. Ares is notably the one Olympian god who will offer praise of Hades without it coming off as a backhanded compliment.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Owing to this Token Evil Teammate status, if you receive a boon from Ares before Athena or Artemis the latter two may acknowledge and express concern over the possible influence Ares may have on Zagreus. Zeus hilariously hopes for the reverse, i.e. that Zagreus will be a positive influence on Ares.
• Tranquil Fury: His response to being not chosen in a Trial of the Gods. He doesn't raise his voice or otherwise show any outward signs of anger, but he makes it very clear that Zagreus has provoked his wrath.
• The Unfavorite: Zeus is not very good at hiding his disappointment in his "oft-misunderstood" son.
  Zeus: Getting along with Ares, are you, Nephew? Would that you were my son instead of he. But no, I jest, I jest.
• War God: Alongside Athena, his sister, and also her foil and rival. Whereas Athena takes the War Is Glorious route, Ares has a War Is Hell vibe.
• Worthy Opponent: If you decided to slight Ares during a Trial of the Gods and then overcome his trial, he's satisfied specifically because he respects that Zagreus stood up to him and bested his trial.
• You Are Already Dead: The crux of the Doom mechanic: A second after the blow is struck, the enemy will take a large amount of follow-up damage. Doom does not stack unless you gain a specific Boon from Ares later. There's also another upgrade from Ares to make Doom effects take even longer to activate in exchange for much more damage.

Dionysus

Dionysus

God of Wine

Appearances: Hades
Voiced by: Cyrus Nemati

"...Perhaps I ought to feel a kinship with this easygoing son of Zeus, for it is said that he has some mortal blood in him, not just divinity. This may explain why he, among Olympians, is so well-loved by mortal-kind; because he loves them back, bringing to them more joy than suffering, for the most part."

—Codex Entry

The God of Wine, revelry, and madness, Dionysus is the half-mortal son of Zeus and Semele. He joins the rest of his closest family in helping out Zagreus, if nothing else because the escape attempts make for good watching while having a drink.

Aside from some highly useful health-based boons, Dionysus's power is in the wine, granting Zagreus's attacks the 'Hangover' debuff that deals damage over time as enemies accrue stacks of it. His power is best used with rapidly attacking weapons so as to maximize the amount of damage caused by the debuff.

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• The Alcoholic: Unsurprisingly, considering how he's the god of wine. While he's never actually seen drinking (though in the epilogue, he apparently spent the entire feast at the House of Hades getting completely wasted), his speech tends to be slightly slurred, as though he's almost always a bit drunk.
• Beer Goggles: Aphrodite claims this to be one of his godly powers in their Duo Boon conversation.
  Aphrodite: My powers, dearest, oft go hand-in-hand with Dionysus, with his power to persuade the mind to find such beauty where it isn't, really!
• Booze-Based Buff:
  • One of his Boons grants Zagreus a health increase whenever he picks up a bottle of Nectar. It also grants a free bottle to get you started.
  • "Strong Drink" makes any fountain completely restore your HP as opposed to restoring only a portion of it. It also increases your attack power for the rest of the run, with higher-rarity buffs making this attack buff more significant.
• Damage Over Time: The crux of Hangover, which functions much as a poison effect in other games. Pre-official release iterations of the game gave it different names (Sick, Blight, Poison).
• Decomposite Character: For complicated reasons, Dionysus and Zagreus are actually the same person in Orphic mythology. It's understandable that this game would split them into two different people. This is lampshaded (including other anomalies in Greek mythology that aren't set in stone) by being various lies told to mortals to counter any discrepencies. The story of Dionysus and Zagreus being the same person was told to Orpheus as a prank, who will believe ANYTHING Zagreus tells him.
• Everyone Has Standards: For all of his mischief, Dionysus admits he doesn't like Theseus after he ditched Ariadne shortly after defeating Asterius. Then again, he may be twisting the truth a little, considering that in some versions of the myth Theseus was ordered by either Athena or Dionysus himself to leave Ariadne behind.
• Food God: He's also the god of grapes, because what else are you supposed to make wine out of? He even wears grapes in his hair to reflect this.
• Fun Personified: Dionysus cares about one thing and one thing only, and that's having a good time.
• The Hedonist: A very light-hearted example. He says that when Zagreus makes it to Olympus, they'll have a massive feast. He also helps Zag play some good-natured pranks.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: His Cast enhancement damages enemies in a circular area and slows them down within its area of effect.
• Intoxication Ensues: His Cast enhancement does this to a group of enemies with Festive Fog.
• Life of the Party: Not just the life, but the god of parties.
• Motor Mouth: While not to the same extent as Hermes, Dionysus is quite chatty and rarely stops for breath.
• Mr. Fanservice: While all of the gods are attractive in some way, Dionysus is easily the one who best qualifies among the male gods, wearing a short and very loose-fitting chiton while his sprite has him posing in a way that shows off a lot of his chiseled body.
• Mythology Gag: Literally. If Zagreus gains enough favor with Dionysus, he will ask him if he is up for pulling a little prank on Orpheus. When Zagreus replies that he likes that idea, Dionysus asks if it wouldn't be funny if he told the musician a tall tale about how the two of them are in fact the same person. Zagreus then goes through with it, and Orpheus swallows it raw. In Classical Mythology, Zagreus was Dionysus' name before he was dismembered and resurrected. This version of the story comes from the Orphic Mysteries, which was supposedly founded by Orpheus. Therefore, the real joke of this gag is the implication that Orpheus founded an entire religion based on a prank.
• The Prankster:
  • He proposes Zagreus to have some "harmless fun" with Orpheus and trick him into believing he and Zagreus are one and the same. When Zagreus does so, Dionysus has a good laugh over it. This is the in-universe explanation for why the Orphic Mystery Cult believed Zagreus was an aspect of Dionysus.
  • Dionysus attacking Zagreus during his Trial of the God should Zag choose a different god's boon. Dionysus admits that he isn't even angry but he puts Zagreus through the trial because he thought it would be funny.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Achilles notes that Dionysus is the only god on Olympus that seems to genuinely like mortals. At the very least, he's casually chatty and friendly with Zagreus.
• Pungeon Master: Most of his Boon names are alcohol or party puns.
• Semi-Divine: Half-mortal, though the unusual circumstances of his birth make him functionally a full immortal god.
• So Proud of You: Played for Laughs, though with Dionysus it's hard to tell. If Zagreus is hoarding Ambrosia he'll naturally take notice given his station and commend Zagreus for it. He even chokes up a bit.
  Dionysus: Well, would you just look at yourself, Zag! You are like a walking stockpile of Ambrosia, aren't you? Taking the best care of it, at that. I knew I could count on you, but... (sniff) I didn't know I could be just so proud of you, you know, man?
• Universal Poison: Dionysus's boons revolve around inflicting damage over time via the "Hangover" status effect, making it effectively the same as poison damage in other games.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: He spent the feast at the House of Hades blackout drunk and can't remember any of it. However, he still compliments Zagreus for it, saying that he's "under the impression that it went smashingly", so he's okay with it.
  Dionysus: Hey, back when we had that feast there, man, I, I hope I didn't, you know, make for any inconveniences down there, did I...?
• What's Up, King Dude?: While Zagreus shows deferrence and humility towards most of the gods, his relationship with Dionysus becomes less formal as time goes on, as the two treat each other more like drinking buddies.

Hermes

Hermes

God of Swiftness

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced by: Andrew Marks

"...One of the free-spirited sons of Zeus, he is patron to travelers, traders, even tricksters. Youthful in spirit and appearance, he could be mistaken for a common lad, if not for his extraordinary swiftness. None whom I know approach his agility or athleticism."

—Codex Entry

Messenger of Olympus, and God of Merchants, Tricksters and Traders, Hermes hurriedly appears to aid Zagreus's escapes.

A unique Olympian, Hermes cannot be built around, cannot be forced to appear via a trinket, has no duo boons, and will not contest Zagreus's favor with any other god. Instead, in keeping with movement and speed being his domains, Hermes' powers grant flat bonuses to his mobility and attack speed - boons which are never not useful, completely regardless of what build Zagreus is using.

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• Dodge the Bullet: His keepsake and one of his boons grant Zagreus a chance to dodge any attack, making it deal no damage.
• Healing Factor: A very limited one; his Quick Recovery boon allows Zagreus to recover some of the health lost to the last attack by repeatedly dashing for a short period.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Hermes' boons are exclusively passive buffs. He has no Duo Boons, all his Boons are tier 1 except his 2 Legendaries, and they cannot be upgraded with Poms of Power. His Keepsake doesn't increase his Boons' rarity or guarantee his appearance; instead, Hermes' boons will appear a fixed number every run (two, three if you're lucky). Hermes also never appears in Trials of the Gods. Speaking to Hermes enough reveals that none of the other Olympians know he's aiding Zagreus, which explains some of it.
• Mercury's Wings: Being the Trope Maker and in keeping with most depictions of Hermes/Mercury, he has wings on his head and a smaller pair on each of his ankles, as well as the wing being his symbol. Since Zagreus has spent his whole life in the Underworld, though, he remarks that it's some kind of bat wing, not knowing better.
• Meta Guy: He's much more aware of the situation than any other Olympian gods and will comment on events, such as when the player has (or breaks) a winning streak of successful runs, has the speedrun timer enabled, among other things. He can also realize when Zagreus has specific elements of the Pact of Punishment active, mostly likely because he works closely with Charon.
• Motor Mouth: Speaks really quickly, which makes sense when you consider that he's the god of messengers.
• Odd Friendship: Managed to get on the good side of Charon, who is notoriously unapproachable even by Underworld's denizens. However, since he's the god of merchants and traders, and Charon is the primary shopkeeper you deal with throughout the game, Charon falls cleanly into Hermes' domain.
• Psychopomp: Makes references to this by referring to Charon as his colleague; in Classical Mythology, Hermes was responsible for guiding the souls of the deceased to the banks of the river Styx, where Charon would take over. The word 'psychopomp' was one of his titles.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • The only Olympian both entirely aware that Zagreus has already reached the surface after the player makes their first successful run, and that Persephone has returned to the Underworld once the player reaches the ending, but will keep hush about it.
  • He's also hiding the fact that Charon was the one who arranged for him and Skelly to assist Zagreus. Should Zagreus find out, Hermes cheerfully reminds him that he has a lot of dirt on him so he'd better keep the secret too.
• Super-Speed:
  • In terms of gameplay, his Boons revolve around movement speed, dodge chance, and attack speed. They can increase Zagreus's movement speed by up to 50%, and his attack rate up to 40%. His Codex entry notes that he could easily be mistaken for a young human man, aside from being extraordinarily fast.
  • Normally, when Zagreus is equipped with a given god's keepsake, the first boon he finds is guaranteed to be from that god. Sometimes, however, he can find a boon from Hermes regardless, and then get a boon from the intended god later. Hermes is just that fast, that he gets to Zagreus before the god that was supposed to give him his first boon.
• Support Party Member: Unlike the other gods, almost none of his boons directly boost the damage Zagreus deals or directly harm enemies ^note The exceptions being his Rush Delivery boon, which increases your damage relative to your bonus speed, and the Bad News legendary boon, which boosts cast damage when the enemy has no bloodstones in them . Instead, he raises Zagreus's attack speed and that of his other abilities.
• Token Good Teammate: The most straightforwardly nice of the Olympians. Despite being a Motor Mouth prone to playing tricks, he's nothing but polite to his cousin Zagreus, and unlike his sister Athena, never forces him into a choice of boons either. Aside from Zagreus, Hermes speaks kindly of the other chthonic gods, and has a genuine camaraderie with his fellow caretakers of the dead, though Thanatos finds him exhausting.
• Trickster God: The one of the Greek Pantheon. He's collaborating with Charon to help Zagreus find Persephone behind the other Olympians' backs.
• Verbal Tic: Inverted. He mentions Charon quite often, but never uses his name, resorting to "professional associate", "big boatman" and such.
• Vibrant Orange: To go with his association with speed, Hermes has a bright and chipper personality. Naturally, he's associated with the color orange; his boons are all colored orange, he wears an orange scarf, and the wings on his head and ankles are orange.

Demeter

Demeter

Goddess of Seasons

Hades II

Appearances: Hades, Hades II
Voiced by: Laila Berzins

"...Over time, mortals have come to fear great Demeter, eldest of Olympians, goddess of seasons, bringer of plenty, and taker-away of it."

—Codex Entry

Eldest child of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Hestia, Helios, Selene and Eos^note a departure from Classical Mythology, where Demeter was the second eldest child of Cronus and Rhea and thus sister to Zeus, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Poseidon, mother of Persephone and Goddess of the Harvest, Agriculture and the Seasons. Demeter eventually lends her power to Zagreus to help him reach the surface.

Due to the surface being in the midst of winter, Demeter has taken on the aspect of a winter goddess. Her boons imbue Zagreus with the 'Chill' debuff, which grants a stacking reduction to attack and movement speed to enemies.

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• Blue Means Cold: Her boons are all centered around giving Zagreus ice-based powers and abilities and she's appropriately colored and styled in all white and pale blue.
• Cassandra Truth: Helios told her that he saw Persephone descend to the Underworld, but she ignored him because she thought it was absurd.
• Cool Old Lady: Both figuratively, and quite literally due to her ice powers. Despite not even having the little information the other Olympians have about Zagreus she agrees to help him anyway after the first time he makes it to the surface, even if he doesn't make it past Hades and provides boons just like the others.
• Damage Over Time: Her Killing Freeze boon makes it so if every enemy in a room is Chilled, they start rapidly taking damage every second.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Her imperious nature rarely lets up, but if appeased with nectar or chosen in a godly trial, she will start to refer to Zagreus as her "little sprout", and generally treats him with more warmth the more times she is encountered, amplified with further tribute.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Ultimately subverted. For all the danger that's put about her learning the truth, when she finally learns about Persephone being Queen of the Underworld, and Zagreus being her grandson, she takes it in relative stride - while she disagrees with Persephone's choice of suitor, she accepts that their hearts do what they want.
• The Dreaded: All the other gods (barring Zeus) sound distinctly nervous whenever she gets called up during a Duo Boon. Hades is terrified of her, and is keeping Persephone's existence under wraps partially out of fear of what she'd do.
• Elemental Hair Colors: She's a winter goddess, and fittingly has platinum blonde hair.
• Endless Winter: Demeter is causing one of these due to her daughter being missing. Hades says she would do far, far worse if she knew the truth.
• Evil Old Folks: She's both the oldest and the most openly callous and malicious of the Olympians, with some competition from Ares. She baselessly blames mortals for her daughter's disappearance, and has responded by creating the aforementioned Endless Winter, which has resulted in mass starvation and war. And it seems she is the one Hades fears finding out about Persephone the most, saying that if she found out Persephone was in the underworld, not even Zeus could stop her retribution against all of them. Additionally, most of her interactions with the other gods involve her belittling their domains by mentioning that her cold could render them pointless.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: She picked the Twin Fists of Malphon (an especially brutal weapon among the set you get) because her hands were used to tilling the land... and then came upon Hyperion, her own father, a parent so atrociously bad he made the son-eating Kronos look decent. According to the Codex, Demeter proceeded to take out every last bit of rage on him and pummeled him until his body was a smear and even his very legacy was somehow erased.
• Fantastic Racism: Demeter does not care for mortals. Quite a few of her conversations with Zagreus will see her bashing mortals saying they are not worthy of her gifts.
• Good is Not Nice: She's on Zagreus's side, but that's it. She's quite imperious and cold, seeming more of an icy matriarch than a kindly grandmother, rather like the inverse of Nyx. Though she becomes more doting when she learns that Zagreus is her grandson.
• Good Is Not Soft: Zagreus lampshades how odd it is for a harvest goddess to grant ice powers that drain the life of those affected, while Achilles indicates that she is capable of far worse if riled. Should you reach the surface with one of her Boons, Hades implies she has currently locked the world in winter while waiting for Persephone's return, and will do a lot worse were she to learn the truth. And in the true ending, Hades says outright that not even Zeus himself would be able to hold back Demeter's fury if she learned the truth about his and Persephone's breakup.
• Heartbroken Badass: She's the goddess of the harvest. However, she takes on her much deadlier winter form due to Persephone's disappearance. She is beyond bitter not knowing where her daughter is and has taken her grief out on the surface world, blanketing it in snow. Every other conversation she has with Zagreus is her warning him on being careful whom he loves, or how much she misses her daughter and worries for her safety.
• An Ice Person: She grants ice powers with her Boons. Since she's the goddess of the seasons, she's caused a winter up on the surface because of Persephone going missing. This doesn't change once Persephone is revealed to be alive and well, but she does show hints of being a Defrosting Ice Queen, both figuratively and literally speaking.
• Jerkass Gods: Demeter arguably holds truest to the stereotype of the Olympians being infamously cruel to mortals. Whenever Demeter speaks of mortals, she can barely hide her contempt and thinks nothing of making them endure an Endless Winter all because she's in mourning of her own personal loss. She finally mellows out in the post-game, and only because she learns Persephone is safe and sound and returns to living on Olympus part-time.
• Knight Templar Parent: Demeter saw Persephone's mortal heritage as something that made her fragile, especially after the death of her father, and thus she became overbearing and controlling out of fear of losing her. And when she did lose her, she concluded that all of humanity should suffer for it.
  Demeter: It was her mortal blood that made her weak! Born to mortals, taken by mortals, I suspect. So now, they pay.
• Life/Death Juxtaposition: Often understood as a harvest goddess and little more, Demeter's full power as the goddess of winter (aka, the time when the earth goes cold and things die) is played up here. She is a goddess of life, and by extension, is a goddess of death. This is reflected in her boons; one of her boons enhances life restoration from all sources, while her legendary boon instantly kills any enemy at 10% health (even bosses) if they're afflicted with Chilled.
• Light Is Not Good: She wears white and light blue colors, and although she shows gentle moments to Zagreus from time to time, she is far from kind. This is due to the fact that Persephone is missing which has turned her bitter and caused the Surface to freeze over in her absence.
• Locked Out of the Loop: In accordance with her role in Classical Mythology, the season on the surface being winter is due to Persephone being missing. Hades says outright that it would be very bad were she to learn why.
• The Lost Lenore: She fell for a mortal farmer and clearly regrets being left behind when he died. It's kind of understandable why her mood is so icy having lost both a lover and a child.
• Love-Obstructing Parents: While Demeter isn't even aware of the relationship between Hades and her daughter, much of Hades's more questionable actions are motivated by the assumption that she would go on the warpath were she ever to learn of it. When she does find out, while she does note she would have opposed the union had she known from the start, she tentatively accepts it in no small part due to Zagreus.
• Magic Knight: Similar to Artemis, Demeter offers a few boons to boost the utility of your cast stones, outside of just her cast. Snow Burst adds a passive chilled effect to any of your casts. Ravenous Will provides a boost to both Zagreus' offense and defense while he's currently empty on cast stones
• Mama Bear: Her love for her daughter is unmatched (if overbearing) and it's implied that Persephone's disappearance has left her bitter, which is why the surface is covered in snow.
• Mayfly–December Romance: She will bitterly advise Zagreus not to ever fall in love with a mortal, as such affairs are doomed. She can go on to confirm that she fell in love with a farmer who paid tribute to her, producing Persephone, but that he is long gone.
• Misplaced Retribution: She blames mortals for her daughter's disappearance and punishes them with an eternal winter as a result.
• Missing Child: If befriended, she will eventually mention to Zagreus that her daughter is missing, and Demeter does not know where she has gone. It's Persephone, your own Missing Mom.
• Missing Mom: Implied given how she refers to Theia as "whoever she is" and giving no elaboration. Might also be a reference to how of the Titans very little is known about Theia apart from her being Hyperion's spouse.
• Morality Pet: Even going by the Teeth-Clenched Teamwork standards of the Olympians, Demeter doesn't try to hide the fact that she doesn't care for any of them. The only person she seems to hold in high regard is Zagreus and her daughter Persephone.
• My Beloved Smother: Persephone calls her overbearing, and she's one of the reasons her daughter decided to leave Olympus.
• Never Mess with Granny: In addition to being Zagreus's actual grandmother, the other gods seem to be a bit wary of her; Hades, in particular, calls her a "witch" who could do terrible things if angered.
• Not Himself: It's implied by the Codex that Demeter has become a much darker and less merciful figure in her old age. The loss of Persephone likely has something to do with it.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Although she was initially unaware that Zagreus was her grandson, Hades will mention if Zagreus has been in contact with the winter goddess of how much she doesn't like Hades. He snarks that she and Zagreus must have gotten along very quickly due to their mutual dislike of him. Even after everyone is reconciled, Demeter keeps the surface around the Temple of Styx locked in eternal winter as a snub to Hades.
• The Older Immortal: She looks and acts the oldest of all the gods, and her siblings refer to her as 'The Elder One'.
• Personality Powers: Similar to Poseidon, the boons she grants fit her demeanor quite well. She is a literal Sugar-and-Ice Personality (being the god of grain and the god of ice at the same time) and has powers revolving around both.
• Power Crystal: Her cast Boon makes the blood crystal from Zagreus's cast hover in place and fire Frickin' Laser Beams instead of its normal effect.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: The nature of the original 6 Olympians is tweaked. While in the original, the six were biological siblings, here Demeter, Hera and Hestia are sisters who had different parents from Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Demeter repeatedly refers to Zeus and Poseidon as her foster-brothers and blames Zeus for mortals confusing their actual relationship. This is likely done to reduce the Brother–Sister Incest aspect of Zeus and Hera's relationship and it also means Hades and Persephone's relationship wasn't between an uncle and his niece.
• Self-Made Orphan: Is stated to have killed her father Hyperion using the Twin Fists of Malphon.
• Shoot the Messenger: When Helios informed her what happened to Persephone she not only didn't believe him, she blocked out the sun in response.
• Sixth Ranger: Unlike the other Olympian gods, who can randomly offer their Boons starting from Zagreus's original escape attempt, Demeter only appears after he encounters Hades on the snow-covered surface.
• Winter Royal Lady: 'Divine' rather than 'royal', but her costume is heavily winter-themed in her aspect as the goddess of seasons. The reason she's going for the winter look is that Persephone has escaped her notice, leading Demeter to suspect that Persephone is dead and exacting an Endless Winter on the surface world out of grief and anger.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her grief over her divine daughter apparently dying? Understandable. Her blaming mortals for it and lashing out with a potentially apocalyptic endless winter? Less so.
  I shall take everything away!

Introduced in Hades II

Apollo

God of Light

Appearances: Hades II
Voiced by: Colin Ryan

The twin brother of Artemis, Apollo is the god of light, music and healing.

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• Instrument of Murder: A unique example, in that he wields a weapon that seems to double as both a lyre and a bow, a clever nod to his title as the god of music as well as him being a skilled archer like his sister.
• Night and Day Duo: He's the day to Artemis' night. He's the god of the sun, with a sun symbol prominently displayed on his breastplate, while Artemis is the goddess of the moon with a moon symbol on her cleavage and headdress.
• Unseen No More: After being only mentioned in Hades, he make an appearance as a fully-fledged god in Hades II.

Hephaestus

God of the Forge

Appearances: Hades II
Voiced by:

Brother to Ares, Hephaestus is the god of the forge and craftsmanship

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• Artificial Limbs: He is depicted with a prosthetic left leg, representing his alleged lameness from some myths.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Hephaestus is often described as somewhat ugly in the source material, but appears here as quite handsome.
• Big Beautiful Man: He is noticeably large, but is easy on the eyes.
• Disabled Deity: He has a prosthetic leg and uses a wheelchair. Given the nature of his domain, they are presumably of his own make and design.
• Mighty Glacier: His boons are about tanking and dishing out damage.
• Unseen No More: He was mentioned in Hades, but makes an appearance in Hades II

Hestia

Goddess of the Hearth (Temporary Portrait)

Appearances: Hades II
Voiced by:

Daughter of Hyperion, sister to Demeter and the Goddess of the Hearth . She is also a former owner of the Adamant Rail.

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• Blood Knight: She quips that she was ready to burn down a chamber of Erebos herself before Melinoe came along. Also, in the original war with the Titans, she wielded the Exagryph, a weapon so devastating that the Hades Codex explicitly hopes that it never finds its way to the mortal world.
• Elderly Immortal: She refers to herself as an elder, and has an older sounding voice. This is possibly an allusion to the Theogony, where Hestia was the first born child of her generation, and thus the eldest of the children of Kronos. You have to take her word for it though, since she uses a placeholder sprite as of the technical demo.
• Fire Is Masculine: As a goddess heavily associated with the element of fire, Hesita is an inversion.
• In the Hood: She wears a hood in her temporary portrait.
• Old Soldier: She is a veteran of the Titanomachy and calls herself elderly.
• Oop North: Hestia speaks with a curious accent that most strongly resonates with Yorkshire and Lancashire regional dialects, but dips into Scottish and Scouse from time to time.
• Playing with Fire: Her boons revolve around fire.
• Power Stereotype Flip: Well, Domain Stereotype Flip, but you would think the Goddess of the Hearth would be portrayed (as she usually is) as a mild, warm, domestic presence. But this Hestia once wielded a devastating rail gun that Achilles hopes will never reach the mortal realm, and threatens to burn down a chamber in Erebos in her first bit of dialogue. Ironically, this makes her more akin to other stereotypical fire characters than she's usually depicted.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: Like Demeter and the yet to be seen Hera, Hestia's relationship with Zeus, Poseidon and Hades has been changed. Zeus, Posedion and Hades are the only children of Chronos, while Hestia, Demeter and Hera explictly are said to have different parents altogether.
• Unseen No More: She was referred to in Hades as the previous wielder of Exagryph, and makes her debut in Hades II.

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