Hades

Hades was the Olympian God of the Dead and Ruler of the Underworld, the eldest son of the Titan Cronos and the goddess Rhea, and brother to Zeus and Poseidon. Husband of Persephone and uncle to Kratos, he held total dominion over the souls of the dead, a power that made him feared among mortals even as it kept the balance of life and death in the Greek world. Though he aided Kratos in earlier days, the Spartan's slaughter of his kin and his queen turned Hades against him, and the Lord of the Dead met his end at his nephew's hands.

The First Titanomachy#

When Cronos was warned that one of his children would rise against him, the Titan King swallowed his offspring, and Hades was the first to endure this fate. He spent so long within his father's stomach that it seemingly altered his appearance for the rest of his existence. Freed at last by his younger brother Zeus, Hades willingly joined the rebellion against the Titans and played a decisive part in the Great War.

During the war he fought Cronos directly, attempting to take the Titan King's soul, until Atlas struck him to save Cronos. Turning his attention to Atlas, Hades was aided by Poseidon, whose lightning brought the Titan low, and Hades seized Atlas's soul into himself, defeating the general of the Titans. When the Olympians triumphed and divided the world, Hades, though it was his birthright as eldest to inherit, yielded the heavens and seas to his brothers and took dominion over the Underworld and the dead.

Lord of the Dead#

Hades ruled the Underworld with a sinister relish for the suffering of his subjects, yet his command over the souls of the dead preserved the balance of life and death across the Greek world. He took Persephone, daughter of Demeter, as his queen, though she did not love him and longed to be free of his dark realm. Her despair would later drive her to free the Titan Atlas and command him to destroy the Pillar of the World, a plot Kratos undid, at the cost of Persephone's life.

Despite the death of his queen at the hands of Kratos years earlier, Hades nonetheless aided his nephew during the quest for Pandora's Box, manifesting in translucent form within Pandora's Temple and granting him the magic known as the Army of Hades. He worked largely from the shadows in these years, a background power whose undead legions and beasts twice rose to bar Kratos's path.

The Second Titanomachy and death#

When Kratos and the Titans assaulted Mount Olympus, Hades was among the congregation of Gods who answered Zeus's call to unite. He dropped into the battle alongside Hermes and Helios and dislodged his uncle, the Titan Oceanus, from the mountain, presumably finishing him before returning to his own domain.

Kratos confronted Hades within the Underworld, where the Lord of the Dead first commented on the Spartan's progress in a taunting voice before turning hostile in his palace. Hades named the wrongs done to him: the killing of his niece Athena, the killing of his brother Poseidon, and the butchering of his beloved queen Persephone, and swore to make Kratos suffer and claim his soul. An intense battle followed, the two fighting with their chain blades until they became entangled and Hades sought to drag Kratos into the River Styx.

Gaining the upper hand, Kratos formed a noose with the entangled blades, slammed Hades into the ceiling, and knocked him into the Styx, claiming the Claws of Hades and the power to steal souls. A larger Hades burst from the river, sustained by the souls within it, his skull cracked and devilish. After a fierce duel, Kratos turned the Lord of the Dead's own Claws against him and tore out his soul, killing him at last. As Hades's rule lifted, the tormented souls of the Styx swarmed his corpse and dragged it into the depths, and with their ruler gone the dead of the Underworld were free to roam, many escaping the realm entirely.