Hades (2020): The Myths Behind the Game

Part 3 of of Underworld themed episodes! Hades is one of the best games of the decade so far, but is a game based on Greek Mythology accurate? Did Supergiant really do their homework? Today we're looking at the many layers of the Hades video game!

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References:
The Oresteia on audible

Also available on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pd7kv
The episode of In Our Time which discusses the Oresteia: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9fk

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zagreus

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orphic-religion 

https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.237.xml 

https://poets.org/poem/iliad-book-i-lines-1-15 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpLDi4_dRL8 

The Iliad/ The Odyssey- Emily Wilson translations

Greek Myths That Shape the Way We Think- Richard Buxton

Transcript

Greeks and Geeks Season 3 Episode 3

Hello and welcome to Greeks and Geeks, the podcast where I take us on a persnickity yet fun journey deep diving into the lore of our favourite stories. I’m your host Sabrina and this is the third episode of series 3, which is underworld themed, in celebration of spooky season. If you haven’t listened to the previous two episodes- all about the Underworld itself, and the interpretations of Hades and Persephone, go have a listen to those. Then come back with your controllers at the ready because today, we’re discussing Hades the video game. Just to let you know I will be talking some mild spoilers about the games overall plot, but I won’t be talking major storyline spoilers such as the ending or and shocking gameplay moments. It’s more fun discover those things on your own I think.

Hades is a roguelike video game which came out in 2020 after years of development. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades and Persephone, as he attempts to get out of the Underworld and uncover the mystery surrounding his missing mother. It was developed by Supergiant games and honestly the name reflects their awesomeness in my opinion. In the year that 2020 ended up being, between Animal Crossing New Horizons and Hades I had a great year of gaming despite everything happening in the world.

Hades was a massive success…you might even say it was a Supergiant success (sorry). It won tons of awards and was regarded as many people’s games of the year. I really go back and forth between it and Animal Crossing because on the one hand, Hades was genuinely fantastic where New Horizons isn’t my favourite Animal Crossing. On the other hand, what other game is Elijah Wood going to DM you and ask to come to your island, politely asking you “may I pick some fruit?” Yes that really happened to a player. I don’t know man 2020 was a weird year but Elijah Wood is such a sweet man I hope we all agree to this.

But onto Hades in more detail now. So many of you have been requesting this topic for a long time, I genuinely wasn’t sure what to focus on. I can’t spend the whole episode gushing over the err…the umm… the characters *cough cough*. Even though their artwork is beautiful! So instead I’ve decided to focus on Zagreus himself and his journey through the underworld, as he attempts the opposite journey to our dear Kalliope in episode 1 and meets some interesting mythological characters. But for now, let’s dig deep into Zagreus, the video game character and Zagreus, the Greek God.

(MUSIC)

Zagreus the video game character is a sweet gentleman who’s never done anything wrong in his life and he has pretty hair a pretty eyes the end

(MUSIC)

Just kidding, ok not really, but I really do enjoy Zagreus as a character! In Hades, he is the main playable character. His relationship with his father Hades is strained and he had very few memories of his mother Persephone, who is missing. He loves Hades pet dog Cerberus dearly (and yes you can pat the dog thank goodness), and is polite and friendly to everyone he meets, often wanting to help everyone. Though he can be pretty snarky to those who oppose him, such as his father and the host of antagonists whom he has to fight to try and escape. He’s a great protagonist because you’re really rooting for him, and his genteel nature is performed excellently by Zarren Korb, makes it so that you really connect to him.

Zagreus is a funny god to research. And I don’t mean funny ha ha I mean funny like huh, interesting. If you had a vague passing notion of Greek Myths, his wouldn’t be a name you know. Well now it might if you’re a gamer, but not in the general public. He’s not one of the 12 Olympian deities and he isn’t really known when talking about the underworld either. So who is he really?

It’s a tricksy sort of question because you have to remember, Greek Mythology isn’t canonical. You can pick and choose your favourite versions of the myths like you can with comic book storylines. I certainly do when it comes to Ariadne (I always choose the ending where she’s happiest with Dionysus because it’s what she deserves and I hate Theseus almost as much as regular listeners know I hate Agamemnon but that’s a topic for another day). Anyone who tells you that there is a canon mythos to follow is very much mistaken. Especially when you mix the Roman mythos in there too, it just becomes a big mess of contradictions and alternate universes, to borrow a fanfic phrase.

Where does that leave us with our dear Zag Man? Well in Hades he’s the son of Hades and Persephone and some of the ancient myths agree with this, however there are some decidedly more horrific interpretations of his parentage and, bear with me as this is icky even by Greek Standards so feel free to skip about ten-fifteen seconds if you don’t want to listen. But unfortunately, there are some versions where Zeus cannot help turning his attentions towards even his own daughter and Zagreus is the result of that unwilling (on Persephone’s side) union. See I told you. Horrific and I can see why the game didn’t go with this version.

So the Zagreus who is the son of Zeus is part of the Orphic tradition. Orphism was one of those wonderful mystery religions like the Elusian mysteries, but this one was based on the teachings and music of the mythical figure of Orpheus. In this version of the myth, Zagreus is actually one of the older gods. He was murdered by the Titans at the behest of Hera, literally torn to pieces, for being another one of Zeus’ children born outside of the marriage. Zeus was able to keep Zagreus’ heart, though, and when he had another one of his trysts, this time with Semele, he put the heart into their offspring. That offspring? Dionysus. So Zagreus and Dionysus are linked in Orphic myths, treated as sort of like the same person almost. 

So then where does the idea of Zagreus being the son of Hades and Persephone come from? One main source is from the tragedian Aeschylus. Ok I need to go on a bit of a recommendation tangent here. Aeschylus is the playwright of the Orestia, a series of plays about the death of Agamemnon which are fantastic and so incredibly dramatic, even if I disagree with the ending. The historical significance of the play is wonderful and so I have to recommend (not sponsored by the way) bbc radio 3 did a wonderful radio play of the series which is also on audible and at the end they have a mini documentary which explains the background and historical context of the play which was utterly, utterly fascinating. So I really do recommend it!

Aeschylus wrote many plays and quite a few of them have been sadly lost to time. But fragments remain. It is in one of these fragments we find his interpretation of Zagreus, where the character of Sisyphus says goodbye to him and his “ever hospitable father.” This is very telling because Sisyphus might be a name you’re familiar with. He is one of the inhabitants of Tartarus, the place where only the most vile of humans and Titans end up, cursed to roll a boulder up a hill for all time, every day the boulder falls back and he begins his task anew. This is punishment for a number of crimes against the Gods, including his chaining up of Thanatos and escape from the underworld. 

The epithet “ever hospitable father” is one which refers to Hades. Hades often wasn’t spoken of by name, being the death God, as people wouldn’t want to draw his attention. So he had many ephitephs based on the idea of him receiving a number of guests or being a host to many. Referring to the amount of human souls he receives in the Underworld, which is his domain. So Aeschylus believed Zagreus was the son of Hades and Persephone. It’s this interpretation which Supergiant decided on for their game.

Which, can I just say, THANK GOODNESS. Not only would it be a way darker story, but if Zag was a form of Dionysus, we wouldn’t have Dionysus in the Hades video game, and he’s one of my favourite designs. Purple happens to be my favourite colour.

So we’ve gone through Zagreus and his origins, but what about his journey through the underworld? Well lets talk about the first part- the House of Hades.

(Music)

In the Hades video game, Zagreus starts his journey at home. That being his father’s palace. It’s a dark but opulent place which makes a lot of sense. One of Hades other names was Pluton, which simply means wealthy. Hades lives underground, and ancient Greeks knew that the earth was where all sorts of riches, gems, gold and food which sustains us, come from. What I’m saying is Hades is hecking loaded, and his palace is a reflection of this in the game. By the way you might have noticed that Hades Roman name is Pluto- yes this is where his name is derived from! I think that’s pretty cool because I love language stuff like that. Like how English has French derived for cooked meats like beef and mutton. But the animals you get those meats from, cow and sheep, are derived from old English, because the Normans invaded Britain and became the rich nobles/aristocrats, leaving the Anglo Saxons to look after the animals. Bit of a tangent but that’s one of my “I just think it’s neat” fun teacher facts I like to spout whenever I can.

So yes, Hades palace is pretty and shiny, minus the pool of blood. As Zagreus wonders around, you can meet a host of Cthonian gods, including the grumpy gus Hades himself. You can pat Cerberus, the guardian doggy of the gate, you can exchange snarky words with a Hades busy and laden with paperwork which I LOVE. I’ve always imagined Hades as a more bureaucratic god, since it’s his job to make sure souls are placed in the right place. Souls are floating around the House of Hades, with explanations of how they died. Nyx, the goddess of night is…is there. She’s…nice. I like her aesthetic.

You also have Dusa, a floating gorgon head, and Achilles. Now Achilles is so interesting, since Achilles is supposed to be in Elysium. Why is he here, in the Hades video game? Well in this version, he works for the House of Hades as a guard and a trainer to Zagreus. His interpretation in the video game is surprising. He’s calm, cool, mature and an emotional support to Zagreus, since Hades is such a curmudgeonly character in the game. If you’ve read the Iliad, you’ll know that this is pretty much the opposite to the Achilles in real life.

In fact these are literally the opening lines of the Iliad:
 Sing, Goddess, of Achilles' rage,

Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.

    Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--

The Greek warlord--and godlike Achilles.

Like YIKES. Definitely doesn’t sound like a guy who should be calmly mentoring anyone. This is the guy who dragged the corpse of his dead rival Prince Hector around via a chariot for days and days, refusing to let it be buried, because Hector had killed Achilles dearest pal/boyfriend/it’s debatable but there’s definitely SOMETHING going on person Patroclus. And don’t worry, we’ll get to Patroclus later on.

But this is actually something he brings up later on. Death seems to have a mellowed Achilles out, or perhaps a combination of death and time have done this. Regardless, he’s there to mentor and offer out advice to Zagreus.

Other characters are present here, like a slightly judgemental Hypnos (lord of sleep) who comments of your escapes whenever you emerge from the pool of blood (your spawn point after an escape attempts resolves in death). But my favourite part is the kitchen/lounge type area where you can see who the employee of the month is hanging on the wall. I think that’s cute.

There’s another character here too but I’m not going to talk about HIM until we get to the Asphodel portion of the game (iykyk) There are other rooms too but I’m not going to comment on every single little detail, just ones which I feel I can compare to the Ancient Greek myths in an interesting way or things I feel are cute and can’t help but comment on. It’s time to move on to the areas of Zagreus’ escape. Disclaimer there ARE smaller areas in the game which you may or may not discover, I won’t go into those because they should be happy (or not) surprises in my opinion. Instead, I’ll cover the major areas in the game and the characters Zagreus meets along the way. Starting with Tartarus.

(Music)

So already if you listened to my first episode, you’ll know that Tartarus is far below the surface of the regular underworld such as the fields of Asphodel and the House of Hades, which are generally on the same “level” if you’ll pardon the pun. So right away we have a slightly different way of going about things, but it makes sense for each major “zone” of the underworld to be named after a well known area. And as Tartarus is supposed to be the area in the game that’s first, ergo furthest from the surface, well then that makes sense it’ll be the first area.

Aside from that Tartarus in the game very much stick to the theme of punishment. The souls of the wicked strike and attack you with ferocity. As one of the oldest areas of the Underworld in mythology, I like that Tartarus looks sort of like ruins too. Crumbling and unkempt. But my absolute favourite thing about Tartarus is its colour theming. The whole place is a villainous green. What I love about this is the fact that green in animation is often used to represent evil or twisted things, especially this specific kind of lime green. You see it in Disney animated features a lot, like Scar the lion emerging from a cloud of green smoke in the song Be Prepared or Maleficent disappearing in a fog of green in Sleeping Beauty. So, as Tartarus is a place where only the truly evil reside, it makes sense that the place is lime-green coloured.

So this is the beginning of Zagreus’ journey to the surface, or at least one of his many attempts. Surprisingly, he has help from the Olympians as they offer him boons and extra skills to help aid him on his way out. The designs of the Olympians are incredible. They’re modern in style but aesthetically, even without knowing who was who, you could look at them and know instantly who they were. There are some Olympians missing from the list of handy helpers, such as Apollo or Hestia, but I’m sure they’ll be present in Hades II which I haven’t played yet as I’m waiting until the official release. My personal favourite is…err…actually I don’t know. Should I even say? I feel like that’s a bad sign. Also I feel like I’d be judged for one of them.

Ok my first one is Dionysus. I like his chill, laid-back attitude and how he calls you “Zag-man” plus I LOVE the purple in his design because not only is the purple associated with wine, but purple being rare in nature can symbolise mystical and magical elements, even madness at times, which makes sense as Dionysus was the centre of the Orphic mystery cult. And Dionysus is all about that too so yet another lovely colour theory moment.

And that’s it. No other gods I love more. No other faves. Nope. That’s it. Shows over go home.

I….

Ugh.

OK Fine ok. I’ll tell you the others. Just call me Paris because my other favourite is Aphrodite ok?! Ok. LISTEN. LISTEN hear me out. Stop rolling your eyes I CAN EXPLAIN. It really isn’t like that. I just love her pretty pink hair and the way she calls you a godling is sweet, but also I really like her boons and they’re PINK ok?! I like pink. I am super girly and I love the pretty pink powers SO SUE ME.

There are other characters Zagreus meets in this area too. For example Thanatos…

I…

*sigh*

I’m fighting for my life. This episode was a mistake.

Ok so those of you that know from my Percy Jackson reactions on Tiktok, you’ll know since I was little I’ve had a sort of crush on Thanatos.  I DON’T KNOW WHY. I JUST THINK HE’S NEAT. I think because he seems nice in almost every interpretation, I’ve read about him? Less scary than the grim reaper or whatever. Every single interpretation of him has been one I greatly enjoy and Hades I is no exception. Let the record state I’m now on the floor. He’s a gloomy pretty emo boy with a gloomy emo voice. Fantastic, 10/10 no notes. Let’s move on before I embarrass myself further shall we? Ok maybe I should talk about him more, especially as Thanatos is one of the few romancable characters in the game. Yes that’s right. You can romance the God of Death.

You know what? Yeah this was my favourite game of 2020. Sorry Elijah Wood.

In the game, there’s a history between Zagreus and Thanatos and you can develop their relationship in a slow, realistic build up the same way you can with other characters (by giving them gifts). He appears from time to time and you can have a little mini game with him where you see which one of you can defeat the most baddies in a short time frame. Not only this is playful and fun character wise, but it’s a really good marker of how your Zagreus can grow in power, once again this game displays a wonderful marriage between character and gameplay which makes it so darn replayable and fun.

In Tartarus you can also meet one of the most famous inhabitants, Sisyphus and his boulder (adorably called bouldy in the video game!). Now this is a very interesting diversion in the game because, in the myths, Sisyphus’ time in Tartarus is FULLY deserved. The guy is an absolute MONSTER ok? An absolute tyrant of a king.  He killed house guests just because he thought it was a fun little activity, breaking the sacred pact of Xenia which is SUCH a huge-no-no in Ancient Greece. I’ve talked about Xenia in my other episodes, particularly around Epic! The Musical so go check out those episodes if you’re interested. He also tried to cheat death and has several stories where he escapes the underworld. One of the most famous stories involves him tricking Thanatos and chaining him up in the underworld, making it so nothing can die. Basically, anything you could do to anger the gods, this guys done it shy of negging Aphrodite herself. 

Yet in Hades, he’s actually a pretty pleasant guy! Decent and humble and built like…well a rock. When I first met him I thought there was absolutely no way he wasn’t trying to trick Zagreus into releasing him. The thing about Zagreus is he’s all about helping others. He’s practically a marriage counsellor at this point. So of course he’s going to try and help someone if he feels like they’re being unfairly punished right? Is Sisyphus trying to trick you or has he really changed? Is he truly contrite? Well I won’t spoil that for you but his mere charactisation when I first met him shook me to my core.

But Bouldy? Bouldy is GOD in my eyes. Bouldy deserves the world and I love bouldy very much.

When you reach the end of each area of the game, there are boss battles. There a mini boss battles too and there is a LOT of dying. Like a LOT A LOT. Especially for me as this was my first roguelike. But some of these bosses are also NPCs. This is the case of the big boss of Tartarus, Megara and the other furies. 

Meg is another romancable character in Hades and this game is just pure suffering for me at this point because HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE?! Anyways Meg is a fury. Her other sisters aren’t really…well…the other furies are kind of. I won’t spoil it but one of them is really fixated on murder. So they aren’t much for conversation. Meg on the other hand loves to taunt you and be really mean. Which, as a recovering people pleaser made me want to cry and also lit a fire under me to BEAT HER and her whip! 

Most people are familiar with the “Meg” from Disneys Hercules, the wife of Hercules. In Greek Mythology, Heracles (because that’s his GREEK NAME DISNEY) actually murders her in a blind fury manipulated by Hera and that’s what kicks off his twelve labours. This Megara is not the same though. Two characters with very similar names.

The furies in Greek Mythology were goddesses of vengeance. They would hunt down murderers in particular. One of their most famous stories is the story of when they attempt hunt down Orestes after he kills his mother Clytemnestra, who killed his father Agamemnon. It’s a long story involving a lot of killing. But essentially the play is a reflection of the changing justice system in Athens. It goes from a fury-like “eye for an eye” system to a more court-like system with judges. 

In Hades, they reside in the underworld and they retain their fury-like personas. Which makes sense for a video game. Could you imagine if you got to the boss battle arena and Meg was just sitting there like a judge in a courtroom? It would basically be the worlds weirdest game of Ace Attorney and that is REALLY saying something.

Right ok, we’ve beat Tartarus. Let’s go to the next area…Asphodel!

(Music)

Ok I don’t know if this is a controversial opinion or not, but I think Asphodel is the least inspired area of the whole game. I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I don’t hate it. But it’s the most typical in appearance. You have the river of fire (the phelgathon, which isn’t a river we spoke about in the first episode of the series because there were too many rivers and I didn’t want to scare the sweet old lady Kalliope by showing her a LITERAL RIVER OF FIRE ok? Ok). Anyways the whole area is red, brown and orange themed. Maybe I just have an issue with it because it’s the most “hellish” in appearance and confusing the Underworld and Hell is a really big annoyance for me and OHOHOHO we’ll get to that in the Percy Jackson episode I’ll tell you that right now.

But I’m going to be fair to Asphodel because there IS, as I said, a river of fire in the underworld so I’m not hating on it totally. Unlike Percy Jackson *breathes* we’ll get there we’ll get there…

So Asphodel is the “middle” area of the underworld in the game. I quite like this design because, even though the underworld isn’t accurately mapped out to how it’s described in the myths, it does still follow a pattern inspired by the myths. Let me explain. So Tartarus is the first and it’s the deepest area of the Underworld both in myth and the game. Next up is Asphodel, which is sort of the neutral zone in myths, where souls who had neither amazing nor terrible life end up. Then, finally (spoilers) there’s Elysium, where only the greatest of the Greeks go when they die. The paradise of the Underworld. So it does follow an interesting logical progression that makes sense in terms of both myths and game-level design. I know I’ve said this phrase a lot, but I just think it’s neat!

I haven’t talked about this character yet, but I really love him and he kind of appears everywhere so I thought I’d include him here. One of my favourites! Charon.

Now if you’ve listened to the first episode, you know Charon in the myths is kind of wild looking. Epic long beard without the friendly Santa or Gandalf persona. He’s the ferryman of the underworld, the bringer of souls. In Hades though, he has a genius role of having a little shop where Zagreus can buy things which help him on his journey. He also talks only is these weird kind of zombie groans and has a GIANT HAT and I love him.

If you’ve never played Hades before, I recommend you try at least once to steal his pot of gold and see what happens. Now because I love Charon, both in myths and in the game, I was a spluttering, guilty mess as I made the decision to do it. To this day I’M SO SORRY CHARON MATE, I WILL GIVE YOU SO MANY OBOLS IN THE AFTERLIFE FOGIVE ME.

But lets move onto the real tearjerkers of the Underworld now, or at least some of them. Orpheus and Eurydice.

When you get to Asphodel, at some point, you will hear a beautiful singing voice. This is Eurydice! She’s trapped in Asphodel whilst Orpheus is trapped and punished in Tartarus. Why is he being punished? Because he refuses, or rather cannot, write anymore music. His wife and muse Eurydice is no longer by his side and he’s lost all sense of creative will. Hades, in his grouchy way, says he’s got “100 years” to figure it out before he gets in trouble which, I love. Because Hades comes across as such a cantankerous man but he’s really kind of softie in his own way.

Zagreus cannot help himself here and he vows to help Orpheus and Eurydice however he can. I’m not going to spoil the plot of the game, but rather look into what happens when you write “beyond the myth.”

The tragic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is well know and we’ll discuss it more in the upcoming Hadestown episode. Orpheus and Eurydice are newly married when Eurydice tragically dies. Orpheus, being a famous composer and musician, travels to the Underworld whilst still living to convince Hades and Persephone to let Eurydice live again. He plays his music and it’s said that the sound is so beautiful that in calms the underworld. Cerberus relaxes, even the punishments in Tartarus cease momentarily. Hades and Persephone are deeply moved and allow Orpheus to try. Eurydice can follow him out of the underworld but Orpheus cannot look back. If he does, Eurydice’s spirit will go back to the underworld forever. The tragic story ends right as Orpheus makes it to the surface. He turns back in his triumph, forgetting that Eurydice hasn’t made it yet and so, right at the last minute, she disappears forever. 

Hades the video game picks up after the myth is complete. Orpheus is now dead too but the tragedy has deepened as even in the afterlife they’ve yet to be reunited. I love, love, love the way this is portrayed because it’s not a retelling of the myth but sort of a sequel. What happens after the tragic tale? Especially one where we look beyond life and into afterlives. Well, in Hades, Eurydice has a clear chip on her shoulder about the whole ordeal. She’s angry that Orpheus failed his task. Orpheus is depressed and songless. Can Zagreus reunite the two and would Eurydice even want to be with Orpheus again after he failed his task? You can see the complexity of emotions here and that’s reflective of modern day audiences too but again, I’ll save that for the Hadestown episode. But I want to praise Hades as a video game because it gives Eurydice not only a beautiful voice, but agency, complexity and a role beyond being someone’s wife. She is a character in her own right and is actually more helpful to Zagreus than Orpheus is! 

Seeing Eurydice was one of my favourite moments in the game. Honestly, going to her home and hearing her sing her lovely song was so calming. There were times I just sat back and let her sing, completely immersed in the atmosphere of the game…

Right before being killed by the bloody bone hydra (if you know you know). But I grew to love the bone hydra too.

Anyways! Time to look at the final area of the underworld now, Elysium.

(Music)

I’m a girly girl and Elysium is super pretty so, naturally, I love it to pieces. 

But it makes sense doesn’t it? Elysium is a place where only the most moral, the most heroic and nearest to perfect humans go when they die. It’s supposed to be a paradise, and it truly looks it. With a pretty garden theme, even the monsters are cute. But they’re deceptive. I never thought I could hate pink butterflies as much as I ended up, but hey-ho.

So, as this is a place where the true Greek Heroes go, it makes sense you end up fighting some of them as your boss battle. Enter Theseus.

Theseus is a…errr…I have almost as complicated relationship with Theseus as I do Agamemnon to be honest. He’s one of those Greek Heroes who I just consistently side eye. From kidnapping a seven-year old Helen of Sparta to venturing to the underworld to try and kidnap Persephone so his bro could make her his wife, to abandoning a princess on an island to die, yeah Theseus is one of those heroes of very questionable moral fibre. I should probably do a roast on him soon. If you’re interested in that, let me know in the comments!

Theseus and Astarion (the minotaur) are the final bosses of Elysium. Astarion is subservient to Theseus, as Theseus is the King of Elysium, lording it over everyone else. Unlike Sisyphus however, Theseus is not portrayed favourably by the game AT ALL. Which yay! Love that. Theseus slander all day every day. It makes sense, since Theseus is a boss that he antagonises you the most. He’s arrogant, rude and looks down on everyone though sometimes he seems to have a bit of a soft spot for the minotaur? Hmmm…

What I find interesting about this is that Theseus and the minotaur were enemies in life, but they’re sort of teammates against Zagreus in death. One of the most famous stories about Theseus is that he was part of a sacrifice of Athens. As prince of Athens, he volunteered to be one of the Athenian young men and women sent to be sacrifices to the minotaur. They would travel to Crete, Knossos in particular, where the horrible Minos ruled and exerted his power. There, they would be forced into the underground labyrinth where the Minotaur lived. One by one they were supposed to be eaten. But Theseus wished to defeat the minotaur and end the tradition of Athenian sacrifice. Princess Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, fell in love with the brave prince and the feeling was apparently neutral. She helped him escape the labyrinth with string and he defeated the minotaur. They all escaped, Ariadne included, but Theseus then went on to abandon Ariadne on the island of Naxos.

Now again, I absolutely love that in Hades they actually reference this! Dionysus actually says he dislikes Theseus for what he did to Ariadne (though it’s more implied than outright stated). And why is Dionysus bringing it up? Because Ariadne ends up as Dionysus’ wife and even being deified in some version of the myths! So if any god was going to dislike Theseus, it’s the husband of the princess Theseus abandoned! I think that’s a really cool tidbit, and it’s not even a huge plot point of the game, just one of those little geeky things for fans of Greek mythology to pick up on and one of the many reasons I adore this game. 

I’m gonna take a little tangent here and mention something that’s not mythology related, but I need to gush about my good shade! So you fight Theseus and Astarion in this huge arena with shades there to support Theseus, cheering him on with their banners. All except one. The little orange shade fondly known as the supportive shade. I love him with all my heart and soul and I know if nobodys got me, my good supportive shade’s got me! He deserves all the props and praise and was an excellent motivator to beat Theseus as I didn’t want to let him down.

But now we’re going to talk about the final mythological character I want to compare this episode, a hero you meet along your travels in Elysium, and that is the Greek hero of the Trojan war, Patroclus.

Hold on am just gonna step away from my mic here.

OH GOD WHHHHHHHHHHHY

Ok I’m back now. 

I just feel, so many feelings towards Patroclus and Achilles both. Yes I have read Song of Achilles, yes it did tear me to pieces, no I don’t care that it isn’t totally accurate to the Illiad and YES I would happily do an episode about it just be prepared for there to be a lot of screaming ok, ok?

Tea break.

Ok I think I’m at a calm enough level to carry on.

The tragedy of Patroclus has always been something I’ve found profoundly just so…so sad. I have a lot of beef with the players in the Trojan war and Achilles is no exception to that. But let me cover the basics for you. During the Trojan War Achilles got angry at Agamemnon, understandable, and refused to fight in the war anymore. 

As a result of their best fighter being missing, the Greeks began to suffer huge losses in the battle and at one point, the Trojan price Hector was almost able to get at their ships, which would have been their ruin. Patroclus tries to convince his companion to rejoin the battle. But Achilles won’t budge, even after Agamemnon apologises (well he gets other people to do his dirty work for him let’s not give him too much credit). In an act of selflessness and desperation, Patroclus ends up pretending to be Achilles, wearing his armour and leading the Greek troops into battle. He does well, until he is killed by Prince Hector. Achilles horror and grief at Patroclus’ loss is so intense and moving, and his fury and revenge afterwards is disturbing. He kills Prince Hector and desecrates his body, he chokes the rivers full of Trojan bodies, such is his grief at the loss of Patroclus.

Hmmm… sounds a bit romantic tragedy doesn’t it? The relationship between Patroclus and Achilles has been debated for ages now, and there are many hints that it’s more than just deep friendship in the Iliad at least. But we always have to be careful about interpreting things using our modern biases and perspectives. At the end of the day, the Odyssey and the Iliad has many moments of men being more physically intimate with each other, crying with each other, and showing a level of emotion and vulnerability that’s usually frowned upon in modern Western societies. 

That being said I love them and they love each other your honour. That’s my personal take though and I’m happy for anyone to disagree as people have and people will in the future! 

But what about in Hades? It follows the Iliad quite closer actually! Here we have another couple who are separate and estranged. Achilles lives in the House of Hades, is a mentor for Zagreus, and says that his heart belongs to another, ever since he was alive, implying Patroclus. What’s so interesting is that his regrets align with the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, when Odysseus meets his ghost at the edge of the underworld, he actually says that he regretted dying early and having eternal glory and should have chosen to avoid the war and live a quiet life with no fame.

This is what he says in Hades:

“I was a fool you see. The gods promised me eternal glory beyond death. I could have stayed out of the war. Stayed home with Patroclus. I threw everything away. And sent so very many to this place.”

Which I just find SO COOL. They’re almost literally quoting the Odyssey here! Gahhh I love this game.

Achilles feels a lot of shame for how he acted when he was alive and feels like he can’t see Patroclus despite always thinking of him, despite still loving him. He also mentions the fact that they couldn’t have been any closer and their ashes are actually together, mingled in death which is accurate to the original texts and I’m about to eat my crocheted coaster shaped like an animal crossing leaf.

Patroclus on the other hand is deeply melancholic. He still loves Achilles but he’s lost all hope of reuniting with him and believes the gods must hate them. Before you engage him in conversation, he’s often musing to himself about why souls continue on after the body dies or sadly thinking about how Achilles died for eternal glory. He’s- I wouldn’t exactly say angry at Achilles- but he’s definitely a sad, bitter boy at times. Apparently he wasn’t like it in life, which matches with what we see in the Iliad. In the Iliad, Patroclus is calm, a good mediator and able to soothe Achilles despite not being able to convince him. 

It’s clear that death and the years of separation from Achilles have taken their toll and Patroclus is also considering drinking from the Lethe at times, which is the river of forgetfulness. Shades of the underworld can drink it so they can completely forget their lives. Just like with Orpheus and Eurydice, this is another example of a really interesting question- what happens after the tragedy? The circumstances are a bit different but there are other reasons why Patroclus and Achilles are apart and it’s up to Zagreus to help them reunite, if he can. It’s all down to the player once more!

Once you defeat Theseus and leave Elysium, there are a number of surprises along the way and Zagreus’ journey is far from finished. But that would be quite major spoilers for the game and I wouldn’t want to spoil those for you if you haven’t played it. There’s so much you could talk about in this game and so much more I could have gone into, I definitely feel like I could do another episode on this topic which is a bit more spoiler heavy so do let me know if you would like that in future season.

I think even if you aren’t a fan of Greek Mythology, Hades the video game is one of the best games of the decade so far and I’m really looking forward to playing the sequel when it officially releases. But what about you? Have you played the Hades game? Are you enjoying the second game’s early access mode thingymabob? Let me know in the comments! Next week we’ll be going back to my roots as I discuss the Underworld in Percy Jackson, both in the books, TV show and yes…finally we’ll be getting to the movie too. I may be a little bit angry but if you’ve listened to my Agamemnon rant, I do try my best to not yell! No promises though.

Thank you for listening to this weeks Greeks and Geeks, I hope you’ve had a lot of fun. If you could, please do consider rating and reviewing as this really helps me out! You can also follow me on tiktok or Bluesky which I’m finding really fun! I’ve been your host Sabrina and I’m Geeking out! See ya next time! Bye!