Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the Craftsman of Olympus, the god of smithery and metalwork who forged the weapons and machinery of the gods. Once the most prized artisan of the Olympian pantheon, he was rewarded by Zeus with marriage to Aphrodite and entrusted with the making of Pandora's Box from the supreme power of the Flame of Olympus. His fall began the day Kratos killed his brother Ares, an event that turned Zeus against him and cost him his beloved daughter Pandora. Cast into the Underworld, he ended his days as a broken smith who at last raised his hammer against the Ghost of Sparta.

The smith of Olympus#

Hephaestus was born to Hera and stood as the blacksmith of the gods, charged with forging the powerful weapons and armor of Olympus along with machinery such as Talos and automatons set to labor across the world. His siblings Ares and Athena, as well as Artemis and Apollo, relied on him for their divine arms, and many of the heroes of legend could not have achieved their feats without his favor. For his skill he was given Aphrodite in marriage, though she held no love for him and turned to Ares and others.

Within his deepest forges in the Underworld, Hephaestus drew on the primordial power of Chaos to create the dark Blades of Chaos for Ares, who intended to bestow them on a future earthly servant. He also crafted the Gauntlet of Zeus at the king's demand, a weapon made to bind the Titans to the walls of Tartarus.

Pandora and the Box#

After the gods triumphed over the Titans, Hephaestus forged Pandora's Box from the Flame of Olympus to forever contain the evils of the war. He judged the Flame itself the safest place to keep the Box, but retrieving it required a key, and that key took the form of Pandora, a girl given life from the heart of the Flame. Hephaestus came to love her as his own daughter, and he could not bear to leave the Box where her sacrifice would be needed.

To protect her, he told Zeus the Box would be safer on the back of the Titan Cronos, reasoning that no mortal could best the Titan. When this deception was uncovered, an enraged Zeus beat him until he confessed, seized Pandora and left her in the Labyrinth, and cast Hephaestus into the Underworld. His scarred and broken appearance came from this punishment.

Imprisonment in the Underworld#

Kratos found Hephaestus at his forge in the Underworld during his march against Zeus. At first the smith spoke only of the Flame of Olympus and warned that its fire was lethal to man and god alike. On a later meeting he told Kratos of his fall from grace and asked the Spartan to retrieve Pandora, reminding him of his own role as a father. When Kratos returned again and revealed he sought the Labyrinth, Hephaestus understood that Kratos meant to find Pandora and use her to reach the Flame, and he turned on him, demanding he stay away from her.

The betrayal and death#

Feigning aid, Hephaestus told Kratos that the death of Zeus would outweigh the loss of Pandora, and offered to forge a new weapon for him. He sent Kratos to retrieve the Omphalos Stone from the Pits of Tartarus, knowing the Stone lay inside Cronos and expecting the Titan to kill him. Kratos instead slew Cronos and returned with the Stone.

Hephaestus forged the Nemesis Whip from the Omphalos Stone with his bare hands, then made a final attempt on Kratos's life, loosing lightning from his ring and crying out for retribution. Kratos shrugged off the assault, turned the Whip's power back on the smith, and triggered an anvil spike that impaled Hephaestus through the stomach. In his last breath he pleaded with Kratos to spare Pandora and begged her forgiveness. Kratos bore him no lasting ill will, later telling Pandora that Hephaestus had died doing what any father should do, protecting the life of his child. Long after, in the Norse realms, Kratos recounted the smith's tragic story and expressed deep regret over what had befallen Hephaestus and Pandora.