Aegaeon: the Hecatonchires made a prison

Aegaeon was one of the three Hecatonchires, a giant of incredible strength bearing six main arms and many smaller limbs, who became the first being to break a blood oath with a god. For this crime the Furies condemned him, transforming his colossal body into the living dungeon called the Prison of the Damned, within which the Spartan Kratos was once chained.

The Hecatonchires#

Aegaeon was one of three Hecatonchires, giants of incredible strength and ferocity. Though his full form was never beheld whole, he was a giant with twelve smaller limbs protruding from his six main arms. Long before the great deeds of Kratos, Aegaeon was banished to Tartarus by his father Ouranos, who was repulsed by the perceived ugliness of the Hecatonchires.

The broken oath#

After the Great War against the Titans, Aegaeon pledged a blood oath to Zeus, only to betray him afterward, becoming the first ever to break such an oath. Displeased by this betrayal, the Furies hunted him down to torture him without end, for they judged that death would be too merciful for such a crime. His body was converted into a prison for those who would follow his example, and he became a warning to all who might break their word.

The Prison of the Damned#

Long after, the Spartan Kratos broke the blood oath that bound him to Ares, the God of War. The Furies sentenced him to a life of madness, chained within Aegaeon's mouth until he would return to Ares' service. As Kratos struggled to escape, the Fury Megaera loosed her parasites upon the arms of the Hecatonchires, causing them to mutate and grow into monsters in an attempt to stop him. Kratos cut down the infected arms and fought his way toward Aegaeon's head, even as Megaera turned the giant's limbs against him.

Death and release#

Determined to end the Spartan's escape, Megaera drove more parasites beneath Aegaeon's eye. The giant's dormant face cracked and twisted into a horrific shape with insect like mandibles and sharpened teeth, seeking to kill Kratos. Through the assault of the head and its newly grown limbs, Kratos at last reached Megaera upon the giant's eye and ran his blade through her chest, casting her to the ground and finishing her there. With Megaera's death, Aegaeon died as well, freed from his long suffering and able to rest in peace. He was the earliest known being in the saga to find release from torment through death, a fate later shared by Orkos, Prometheus, Peirithous, and Mimir.