Hades (God of War)

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“	Kratos, so glad you could carve out some time for us! You know we need it. I sense some bad blood between us, Kratos. How many sins have you committed against me? Oh, that's right, you murdered my niece, Athena! And what else. WHAT else? Ah, and you killed my brother, Poseidon. And I have not forgotten that it was you who butchered my beautiful Queen! I will see you suffer as I have suffered. Your soul is MINE.	„
	~ Hades before engaging Kratos in battle

Hades Battle

Background

Hades, also known as Háidēs or Pluto, was the Olympian God of the Dead and the Ruler of the Underworld. Eldest son of the mighty titan Cronos and the goddess Rhea, he was most notoriously known as the brother of Zeus and Poseidon as well as Demeter, Hera and Hestia. Furthermore, Hades was the husband of Persephone and the uncle of Kratos himself—a family bond that the latter has long been unaware of.

In the wake of the rebellion of the Gods led by Zeus against the Titans and their decisive victory during the First Titanomachy, Hades was deemed to become one of the most important and powerful Olympians by gaining full authority over the Underworld and the Dead, a status that made him particularly feared among the Mortals. Although he viciously enjoyed the pain of his subjects, his total control over the souls nevertheless ensured the balance of power between life and death in the Greek World.

Hades is introduced in God of War (2005) as a minor supporting character. Despite Kratos' actions that led to the death of his beloved wife ten years ago, the Lord of the Dead nevertheless aided his nephew in his quest for the Pandora Box by granting him a fraction of his powers. The God of the Underworld then returns in God of War II once again as a minor character, where he is shown battling the Titans during the First Titanomachy alongside his fellow gods, successfully stealing the soul of the gigantic Atlas. Hades is notably present in Mount Olympus when Zeus summons his fellow gods and urge them to unite against this new challenge posed by the Spartan.

Following the actions of Kratos—who deliberately started the Second Titanomachy in his quest for vengeance, Hades comes to the fore in God of War III as a major antagonist in order to aid Olympus win this war. While Hades successfully battles the Titans with the help of his fellow Olympians, he finally meets his demise against all odds at the hands of Kratos, who manages to steal Hades' soul by turning his own weapons against him. His unexpected and brutal death brought utter chaos in the Underworld, who no longer had its ruler to watch over the souls.

This dropdown contains the synopsis of Hades’ story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!

The First Titanomachy When it was prophesized that one of his own children would rise against him and overtake his rule of Greece, Cronos, the King of the Titans, had resorted to imprison his children inside his belly in order to keep this from happening. Hades was the first to endure this horrendous fate until he, along with the rest of his siblings, were released and saved by his brother Zeus. Declaring themselves as the Olympians, Hades and his family had raged war against the Titans, engaging in what would be known as "The Great War". Hades appears in cutscenes in God of War II, during the Great War, when the Gods defeated the Titans. He is seen fighting his father Cronos trying to take Cronos's soul until Atlas comes and uses a ground attack on Hades to save Cronos. This causes Hades to turn his attention to Atlas and with his brother Poseidon coming to help him Hades is able to take Atlas's soul placing it within him thus defeating the Titan leader. After the Titanomachy he becomes a prominent figure among the Gods as there is a statue of him in the Garden of the Gods along with Athena, Ares, Zeus, Helios, and Poseidon. At the end of the game, he is seen with Poseidon, Helios and Hermes standing in front of Zeus, before the second Great War (when Kratos uses the Loom of Fate to rescue the Titans before they were defeated and imprisoned in the first Great War) begins. Wager of the Gods In the comics, Hades is seen in flashbacks competing in the wager of the Gods, a contest in which Gods choose various mortals as their champions, with the goal being the capture of the healing elixir known as Ambrosia. Hades chose Alrik, a warrior who sought to capture the Ambrosia in order to save his ill father, as his champion. After which, in fear that Kratos may best his champion, Hades sent a torrent of great fires from the sky onto Kratos' army. He was still unable to kill Kratos. After Alrik was defeated by Kratos and torn apart by Rocs, Hades revived him and sent him to destroy the Spartan who defied him. After being saved from death, Alrik then discovered that his beloved father had died, and so, the new Barbarian King vowed to exact vengeance on Kratos. Kratos' Tiring of Ares In God of War: Ascension, Ares, the God of War, sent The Furies to capture Kratos and imprison him in a Titan-sized prison for the living damned, where he is tortured for months on end, driven insane, and constantly haunted by the visions of the night he lost everything dear to him. Fueled by a desire for revenge against Ares, along with a need to redeem himself among Hades to earn salvation, Kratos manages to break free of his imprisonment and sets out on a journey to kill the Furies. If he can successfully defeat them, he can sever all ties to Ares without consequence. Persephone's Betrayal In God of War: Chains of Olympus, one of the final challenges is called Challenge of Hades. Hades himself does not appear, although Kratos does enter his realm of the dead, the Underworld. Hades does, however, play a background role, as husband to Persephone, the main antagonist of the game. Persephone doesn't love him but is forced to remain in his dark realm. Because of this, she had chosen to end both her life and that of the Gods by freeing Atlas and commanding him to kidnap Helios, the God of the Sun, from the sky and use his power to destroy the Pillar of the World. Aiding Kratos In God of War, he manifests in Pandora's Temple in a translucent form, like the other gods, and gives Kratos a magic called the Army of Hades. Only his fiery, demonic face is seen. There is also a giant statue of him in the section of the Temple called The Challenge of Hades, as well as another statue of Hades alongside Zeus and Poseidon in Pandora's Box's Elevator. Moving in Shadows While Hades doesn't appear in Betrayal, he is, again, a background character. When Kratos starts chasing the mysterious Assassin, the Undead Legionnaires and Cerberus appear from Underworld to stop him. Kratos wondered why Hades sent these beasts to attack him, speculating that Hades is the one who is plotting to ruin Kratos' relationship with the other gods. This would have made sense since Hades already had a legitimate reason to hate Kratos for the death of his wife Persephone. The Second Titanomachy Hades is first seen amongst the congregation of Gods on Mount Olympus, dropping down to join Hermes and Helios in the battle against the Titans saved and led by Kratos scaling the mountain. He is briefly seen dislodging his uncle Oceanus from the mountain after Kratos disabled one of the Leviathans attacking Gaia. Kratos encounters Hades personally in the Underworld, who seeks to prevent him from escaping again. After first entering, Hades periodically comments Kratos' actions, often in a sarcastic, humorous or taunting tone of voice. As soon as Kratos enters his Palace, Hades takes a more hostile stand, claiming he senses "some bad blood" between them. Before the battle, Hades reminds Kratos how he has wronged him in the past, by killing Athena (his niece), by killing Poseidon (his brother), and especially Persephone, his wife and "Beautiful Queen". Hades then threatens, "I will see you suffer as I have suffered! Your soul is mine!". Emerging from the darkness, Hades immediately attempts to steal Kratos' soul but fails. An intense battle ensues, during which Kratos and Hades do battle with their respective chain blades. Eventually, the blades become entangled, and Hades attempted to pull Kratos into the River Styx. Eventually, Kratos gains the upper hand and uses both weapons to form a noose around Hades' neck, repeatedly slamming his uncle's head into the ceiling and knocking him into the River Styx seemingly killing him. From this, Kratos obtains the Claws of Hades allowing him to steal souls. Eventually, a significantly bigger Hades bursts out of the river using the soul to maintain himself, no longer sporting his helmet, revealing a deformed, devilish, cracked skull. Death After a fierce dual Kratos manages to rip out his soul, using his own Claws killing the God of the Underworld once and for all. As Hades' rule of the Underworld lifts, the tormented souls of the Styx swarm over Hades, dragging him into the depths of the river. Kratos, in possession of Hades' soul, is now free to traverse the river Styx unharmed. As a result of Hades' death, the souls of the dead that reside in the Underworld were able to roam freely, with many escaping the Underworld itself. After diving into the river, the godly possession, Hades' helmet, can be retrieved at the bottom, near the point of entry. It then becomes available during Bonus Play. Before leaving, Hades' corpse can be seen at the bottom of the Styx, mutilated, as the tormented souls tore a passage through his gut to escape the river. Swimming through Hades' now open torso, Kratos follows them and returns to The Forge of Hephaestus, the Blacksmith God. Hephaestus asks how Kratos could be alive and if "Lord Hades" rules no longer, to which Kratos responds, "The God of the Underworld is dead!" Hephaestus is shocked by this and states that he thought that the death of Hades was impossible, to which Kratos responds, "Olympians overestimate themselves." Hephaestus replied, "I will keep that in mind, Spartan".

General Information

Name: Hades

Origin: God of War

Sex: Male

Age: Over thousands of years old (The Great War between the Olympians and the Titans happened thousands of years ago)

Classification: God of the Underworld, Lord of the Dead

Species: God

Occupation: None

Status: Deceased (Had his soul stolen by Kratos)

Alignment: Initially Lawful Neutral (Initially Hades was one that didn't fully interfere with the affairs of the mortal world, granting Kratos some help during his journey), Chaotic Evil after being consumed by Fear (Was consumed by the evils placed inside of Pandora's Box, infecting him and turning him to the dark evils)

Codex Statistics

Grade: S

Tier: High 6-A

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Multi-Continent level (Fought in the great war against the titans, and then proceeded to steal the soul of Atlas, who is also slightly stronger then Cronus, who fought and defeated Uranus, who is among the group of Primordials that forged the earth and overtime created the universe in their great battle along with Cronus' birth itself letting time come into existence, with the God of War world being a large flat disc. The Greek Gods are superior to the Norse Pantheon Gods, making them superior to Odin, who killed Ymir is a being of pure creation and chaos, taking Ymir's flesh to create Midgard and form the other realms)

Durability: Multi-Continent level

Striking Strength: Multi-Continent Class

Lifting Strength: Class E (Stole the soul of Atlas, who holds the world pillar, with the destruction of the world pillar ending all of existence and returning the world back to a primordial chaos, with the God of War world being a large flat disc)

Travel Speed: Faster Than Light (Should be comparable to Zeus, who with a mere fraction of his powers allows his warriors to run at the speed of light)

Attack Speed: Faster Than Light (Tagged Atlas, who is superior to God of War Ascension Kratos who can tag Pollux and Castor, who are faster then the Redeemed Warrior, even with the Essence of Hyperion, which allows one to travel at the speed of light through opening a Hyperion portal)

Reaction Speed: Faster Than Light

Stamina: Superhuman+ (Fought in the Great War against the titans for hundreds of years without tiring. Is the ruler of the Underworld manganging over millions, possibly even billions of souls every second without showing much struggle)

Range: Standard Melee, Tens of Meters through Size Manipulation (Appears this tall before Kratos), Higher with Claws of Hades (Can use them to reach this far)

Intelligence: Unknown

Knowledge: Grandmaster level (Fought in the great war against the Titans and won, reigning supreme as the new rulers of the world. Is the ruler of the Underworld managing over millions, possibly even billions of souls every second without showing much struggle)

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Weapon Mastery (Can use his Claws of Hades in combat, aiding him in winning the great war. Grants people under allegiance to him weapons of his, this includes his sword, blades, hammer, war hammers, spears, lances, armor, etcetera), Stealth Mastery (Hid from Kratos prior to the beginning of his boss fight, The Lance of Hades is a magical spear with good team support and stealth abilities), Magic (Noted by Mimir the powers of the gods in the Greek Pantheon use powerful magic), Accelerated Development (Passive; Physical Stats and Abilities. As Olympians grow older they grow far more powerful), Abstract Existence (Physical, Primordial Source; All gods embody different concepts of reality, with their deaths causing the concepts they embody to be affected, such as the death of Helios depriving Greece of the sun), Astral Projection (Can create an astral form to speak to Kratos), Immortality (Ageless; Gods are eternal beings that are ageless and can never die from age. Life and Death Immunity; As stated by Gaia Kratos losing his godly powers was described as him "rendered mortal, "vulnerable to the arms of death", meaning gods are not bound by death. Hades is even moreso unbound, being seen even by the gods that his death is impossible. Noted during God of War 1 that the only way to kill Ares was to get Pandora's Box), Regeneration (At least Low-Mid; Comparable to other gods who can regenerate from being stabbed through the stomach, leaving a massive hole), Supernatural Resilience (Gods can survive lethal wounds and continue fighting), Fate Protection (The Sisters of Fate control destiny and plot out the fate of one's entire life), Clairvoyance (Could watch Kratos' trials from the Underworld), Telepathy (Could speak telepathically to Kratos), Non-Standard Interaction (Abstract Interaction and Metaphysical Interaction; Should upscale from a fully depowered Kratos who can fully kill souls, which means he is destroying all four parts of the soul, which explained by Mimir, include form, direction, mind, & luck. Can harm various gods and titans all who embody different concepts of reality, with their deaths causing the concepts they embody to be affected), Power Bestowal (Can bestow Kratos the souls of the underworld to use in battle, can bestow warriors his weapons armors and abilities), Metaphysics Manipulation (Soul Manipulation), Absorption, Statistics Amplification & Empowerment (Can rip one's soul out of their body and absorb it into himself making him stronger. With the Spear of Hades, holds dominion over an enemy's mortal soul), Summoning (The Claws of Hades can summon the cursed souls to attack all enemies, summoning various enemies. Bestowed people with Sacrificial Soul, summons a condemned soul from the underworld to smite enemies. Bestowed people with Desecration, summons rotting arms from Tartarus and steals life from enemies each time the arms hit them), Petrification (Through using soul summon to summon Gorgon Serpent, can attack and petrify enemies), Breath Attack (Can blast energy from his mouth. Through using soul summon to summon a Chimera, breathes fire on enemies), Energy Projection & Madness Manipulation (Mental Based; Through using soul summon to summon a Siren Seductress builds up a powerful blast that hurts all foes, sirens lure people that hear their songs and drive men insane), Power Nullification (The dead can nullify one's powers to lose their godly power and regress in strength along with strip them of their magical abilities and weapons, along with all of their experience), Shockwave Generation (Can cause shockwaves that can push the likes of Kratos back by landing), Chain Manipulation (Can spawn multiple chains around himself), Resurrection (Brought his champion Alrik back to life), Transmutation & Corruption (His arms of Hades turns people into a lifeless soul), Telekinesis (Can telekinetically pull pieces of his flesh back to him), Forcefield Creation (Hades can make purple colored forcefields. Bestowed people with Curse of Acheron, an elemental soul wave that curses all enemies in range and applies a cursed shield on team-mates), Death Manipulation (Metaphysical; Can steal the life of one and send them to the underworld), Sleep Manipulation (Hades put Alrik's father to sleep), Fire Manipulation & Curtain Fire (Can shoot fire from the underworld that fires out hundreds of fireballs to attack an entire army), Necromancy (Can use his undead legions to fight), Plant Manipulation (Trapped Peirithous in timber for eternal torture), Animal Manipulation (Commands the likes of Cerberus in his domain), Size Manipulation (Can increase his size to giant sized, when he was normal sized prior), Darkness Manipulation (Can control the darkness to have very little light, no light, and have the entire room lit up), Curse Manipulation (Bestowed his followers the spear of hades, a magical spear imbued with a powerful curse. Bestowed people with Persephone's lament, an element based projectile that curses enemies. Bestowed people with Curse of Sisyphus, a powerful elemental wave attack that sweeps enemies off their feet and curses them. Bestowed people Death's Wail, releases a shockwave of debilitating energy that stuns and curses all nearby opponents, increasing the physical and elemental attack of the user), Elemental Manipulation (Bestowed people with Asphodel's Edge, summons a hazardous line of elemental damage, launching and breaking the defenses of enemies), Pain Manipulation (Bestowed his followers the Lance of Hades, which curses enemies with eternal pain of the underworld), Invisibility (Bestowed people with Hades helm, slips into death's shadow to avoid detection and become invisible. Bestowed people with Death's Blessing, summon a powerful cloaking bubble, hiding oneself and shielding allies from visibility), Life Manipulation & Status Effect Inducement (His magic drains vitality from opponents. Bestowed people with life steal, channels the might of Hades to strip an enemy's life and soul from them. Bestowed people with Death's Blessing, enemies inside of the bubble will be cursed with the drain status effect. Bestowed people with stolen vitality, grows to demigod size, leeching health with each attack. Bestowed his followers the Blade of Hades, a sword that leeches health from its enemies), Teleportation (Bestowed his followers with the Maul of Hades, an enchanted hammer that allows teleportation. Bestowed people with Persephone's Exile, a teleporting attack that targets the closest nearby enemy for a brutal slam attack from above), Burrowing (Bestowed people with Wraith's Ambush, dives underground and emerge under the nearest enemy with an attack that knocks them back), Vacuum Manipulation & Portal Creation (Bestowed people with Hades Torrent, rips open a gateway to the underworld, releasing a cursed voice of Tartarus that drains heal from all nearby enemies), Invulnerability (Metaphysical Invulnerability) & Intangibility (Elemental; Bestowed people with Wraith Fang, become invisible as one transforms into a swirling mist, increases speed and gains health from nearby enemies).

Resistance to Conceptual Manipulation, Vector Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Memory Manipulation & Probability Manipulation (As explained by Mimir, include form, direction, mind, & luck, thus for one to affect Hades with any of these abilities, they must affect his soul), Death Manipulation & Power Nullification (His soul is able to swim in the river styx without any harm, which kills anyone drinking from it, the dead can nullify one's powers to lose their godly power and regress in strength along with strip them of their magical abilities and weapons, along with all of their experience), Metaphysics Manipulation (Soul Manipulation), Curse Manipulation, Life Manipulation & Absorption (His champions and followers have his armor which are resistant to the effects of the various soul magic abilities that come from him), Madness Manipulation (Mental Based; As his claws can summon the undead such as sirens, he should be unaffected by their songs, which lure people that hear their songs and drive men insane), Disease Manipulation (Hermes death released disease across the world that gods were unaffected by)

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Equipment

• Claws of Hades: The Claws of Hades were chained weapons formerly utilized by the God of the Underworld, Hades. During both of the Great Wars, Hades could be seen fighting with those weapons. They were depicted as a set of spiked chains with two hooks at the end of each that glowed pale purple. Hades was "draped" in them, and they were embodied with his magic Powers. Using the magic stored within the chains, Hades could pull out the soul of his enemies. That was seen in one of the cutscenes in God of War II, where Hades ripped out the soul of Atlas and absorbed it. Those chains were extremely lethal weapons as they allowed Hades to attack at short and long distances. They glowed with a dark purplish aura that indicated the number of souls it absorbed. By absorbing countless souls, the chains' attack power increased as well as speed. Hades had the ability to summon legions of the Undead as well as a wide array of undead beasts by using the Claws' power. The chains were a very powerful part of Hades' arsenal, and, with them, defeated many Titans in the Titanomachy. The Claws could be also controlled with the user's mind, as seen in the attack Tormenting Lash where the claws spun around the user, without them moving their arms. The Claws allowed one to summon the souls of the dead, with more that became available when the Claws were strengthened.
• Armor of Phobos: The Armor of Phobos is a rather frightening piece of armor that is based around the God of Fear, Phobos. It is available in God of War: Ascension's multiplayer mode exclusively for warriors of Hades. It adds +4 Health, +13% Elemental Power, +8% Cooldown Reduction. The Godly Armor of Phobos adds +5 Health, +17% Elemental Resist, +8% Cooldown Reduction.
• Battle Armor of Hades: The Battle Armor of Hades is an armor set exclusive to warriors aligned with Hades. It is unlocked by killing 100 opponents when aligned to Hades. It adds +9% Physical Power +7% Elemental Power +6% Cooldown Reduction. The Godly Armor of Hades adds +10% Physical Power, +8% Elemental Power, +8% Cooldown Reduction.
• Blade of Hades: The Blade of Hades is a two-handed sword only available to players aligned with Hades. It adds +10% Physical Power; +8% Cooldown Reduction. The Godly Blade of Hades adds +10% Physical Power, +11% Cooldown Reduction.
• Cestus of Hades: The Cestus of Hades are a pair of gauntlets unique for those who are aligned with Hades. The weapon sucks the life out of the enemy and helps to regenerate the health of their wielder. It adds +7 Health; +10% Physical Power; +4% Cooldown Reduction.
• Gauntlets of Hades: The Gauntlets of Hades are weapons only available to players aligned with Hades. It adds +7% Health; +5% Physical Power.
• Lance of Hades: The Lance of Hades is a Multiplayer weapon only available to players who are aligned with Hades. The Lance of Hades is a spear ending in a spiked scythe and as for the other half, ending in a dagger. The Scythe is decorated with purple details, showing its alliance with the warriors of Hades. This is also one of the most versatile weapons a player can wield, due to its abilities to hide the user from enemies, drain their health and heal allies or to simply create a strong wave to push foes away and give the user some room. Also, the spear, specially its godly version, reduces its owner's cooldowns, allowing him/her to use its special attacks more often in battle. It only lacks Physical Power, making its normal attacks weaker, but this doesn't affect its specials, which use Elemental Power. With all of these advantages, it's easy to understand why a single warrior carrying a Lance of Hades is enough to disrupt the whole enemy team in fear. It adds +3% Physical Power; +5% Elemental Power; +4% Cooldown Reduction. The Godly Lance of Hades adds +3% Physical Power, +6% Elemental Power, +10% Cooldown Reduction.
• Maul of Hades: The Maul of Hades is a two-handed hammer only available to players aligned with Hades. The Maul resembles the Helmet of Hades at one side while other side is fashioned with spikes, to end the life of fallen opponent. This enchanted hammer allows the user to teleport. It adds +5% Physical Power; +5% Physical Resist; +4% Cooldown Reduction. The Godly Maul of Hades adds +6% Physical Power, +6% Physical Resist, +10% Cooldown Reduction.
• Olympus Armor of Hades: The Olympus Armor of Hades is a powerful DLC set of armor of Multiplayer being exclusive for warriors of Hades, this armor is specially designed to shield its owner from any kind of damage. It adds +16% Physical Resist; +17% Elemental Resist; +3% Cooldown Reduction.
• Spear of Hades: The Spear of Hades is a weapon only available to players who are aligned to Hades. The Spear of Hades is a long two-handed spear with a large forked blade as the tip. On the other side of the spear there is a hook resembling the Claws of Hades. It's a powerful weapon with magical abilities and is capable of ranged attacks. It adds +3% Physical Power; +10% Elemental Power. The Godly Spear of Hades adds +3 Health, +3% Physical Power, +11% Elemental Power.
• Sword of Hades: The Sword of Hades is a two-handed sword only available to players with alignment to Hades. The sword has a cleaver-shaped blade with spikes and purple grooves along it and is made to perform quick and unexpected attacks that set enemies for combos rather than strong blows against them. Its specials can either cover a considerable area and quickly strike more than one foe at once or deliver a surprise leaping strike with focus on a single opponent. Enemies must be aware when a warrior with the Sword of Hades approaches, otherwise they can be sliced to pieces even before having a chance to react. It adds +13% Physical Power. The Godly Sword of Hades adds +7 Health, +15% Physical Power.
• The Claws of Olympus: The Claws of Olympus is a weapon in God of War: Ascension multiplayer available only to warriors who sworn an oath to Hades. The Claws of Olympus appear as huge gauntlets, resembling the Helm of Hades, with bright tanzanite purple light shining from them. A pair of long claws, which are possibly the Claws of Hades themselves, are chained to the gauntlets and are used for long range combat. Like the Claws of Hades, they use the power of undead souls to decimate enemies and steal their life energy. This leaves their victims severely weakened while the wielder regains any lost health and is healed from his/her wounds that they suffered in battle. It adds +8 Health; +10% Physical Power; +9% Physical Resist.
• War Armor of Hades: The War Armor of Hades is an armor set in Multiplayer, being exclusive to warriors of Hades. The armor features a helmet that covers all the face, featuring six holes (three in both sides) in the front and two horns, making a relation with Hades and his Helm. It also features shoulder/biceps, spiked vambraces, greaves, and full protection in the chest. It adds +10% Physical Power, +9% Elemental Power. The Godly War Armor of Hades adds +4 Health, +11% Physical Power, +10% Elemental Power.
• War Hammer of Hades: The War Hammer of Hades is a two-handed hammer from Multiplayer only available to players aligned with Hades. It is a war hammer hammer with spikes and purple groves on it. Specially known for its leeching powers, it becomes useful at danger situations such as being low in health or surrounded by multiple enemies. Those who like to attack packs of enemies at once and, at the same time, keep their health bar at higher levels will find this hammer a very desirable weapon. It adds +10% Physical Power; +9% Physical Resist. The Godly War Hammer of Hades adds +11% Physical Power, +11% Physical Resist.

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Notable Techniques

• Death-Force Manipulation: Hades could kill or manipulate death forces to his will and since he was the God of the Underworld, he had secondary authority and representative of death; the primary authority and representative of death was Thanatos, God of Death, who was killed by Kratos for killing the Spartan's brother Deimos. It is unknown whether Kratos now represented death, but all death forces the Spartan had been reclaimed by Hades, The Underworld God.
• Immortality: Like all Greek Gods, Hades was immortal. Only a sufficiently powerful weapon or an extremely powerful being can kill him.
• Invisibility: Despite not using it in battle, he possibly used it when Kratos entered his palace where he wasn't able to be seen in the dark and walks right in as opposed to fall from the ceiling during the battle.
• Invulnerability: Hades was invincible to certain forms of attacks, all mortal weapons, and able to take significant amounts of force. Kratos only managed to defeat him by ripping his own soul out of his body and had to destroy the pieces of flesh he tore from Hades twice, lest the Ruler of the Underworld keep recovering.
• Necromancy: As the ruler of the Underworld, Hades has absolute control over the souls of the dead and his world, to the degree where he was able to gift them to worthy mortals, Hades can also instantly steal souls from mortals or magical beings from afar. The best example of this is seen when Hades stole Atlas's soul and absorbed it. While Kratos traversed the dangers of Pandora’s Temple, Hades gifted him with the souls of the Underworld to aid him in his journey. These souls are much stronger if they are summoned from the deepest depths of Tartarus. These souls can viciously maul Kratos’ enemies to death or weaken them enough for him to finish them off.
• Power Bestowal: Followers of Hades are granted a fraction of Lord Hades' powers and become Warriors that literally fight with Spirit. They are capable of using their abilities to steal life force from others and emit dangerous elemental attacks that target the Soul of another enemy. Followers of Hades can also use teleportation to surprise his enemies and can also use stealth to become invisible or become spirits to protect themselves temporarily. They are capable of summoning a few hands of Hades to aid them in battle. Due to Hades granting these powers they should be able to replicate them (some of which they did) on a smaller scale.
• Pyrokinesis: In the comics, he was capable of launching massive fireballs, indicating his ability of Pyrokinesis. Likewise, when really hurt by Kratos during their battle, his realm would ignite with a burning inferno, this is possibly due to his connection to phlegethon, the river of fire in the underworld.
• Regeneration: Hades possessed great regenerative powers, such as when Kratos ripped a piece of his flesh out, he could heal himself simply by placing the flesh back, he is also capable of regenerating by stealing the life force of others.
• Shapeshifting: Hades could also shapeshift, which he demonstrated during his battle with Kratos, as he increased his size throughout the battle, eventually growing to the size of a giant. This was also shown during the Great War of the Gods and Titans.
• Soul Removal: Hades, using the Claws of Hades, could remove the soul of any living being: mortals, beasts, fellow gods and even Titans.
  • Soul Absorption/Soul Empowerment: Every removed soul can be absorbed by the user of the Claws of Hades, bestowing certain abilities on the user or increase their power. This allowed Hades to become more powerful, with every taken soul.
  • Soul Materialization: Hades was able to summon souls to attack his enemies, fighting for him. This ability was even more outspoken, when he used the claws, as he could use it to summon the souls of powerful monsters, utilizing their abilities briefly.
• Telekinesis: Hades possessed great telekinesis; he was able to make the flesh Kratos tore out of him move back to him.
• Teleportation: Hades could teleport from Olympus, the Underworld and to mortal world.
• Umbrakinesis: Hades was also able to manipulate and control shadow and darkness as he demonstrated in his fight with Kratos. Hades could also breath dark energy from his mouth.
• Chain Manipulation: Hades could manipulate the Claws of Hades with high precision and proficiency. He could teleport the claws, attacking people over long distances and at high speed, as well cover whole areas with his chains.
• Blades of Hades
  • Murderous Impalement: Spinning chain attack that drains health.
  • Judgement of Rhadamanthus: Creates an eight-meter dividing line on the ground. Fueled by tortured souls.
• Cestus of Hades
  • Charon's Uprising: Execute a powerful ranged 3-hit chained-based combo. It can be finished with either a sweeping flyback finisher or an unblockable uppercut finisher.
  • Viper's Lash: Execute a powerful whirling chain attack that hits enemies around one. Applying a leach on any successful hit.
• Gauntlets of Hades
  • Unseen Darkness: An initiation portal attack that targets the nearest enemy and sweeps them off their feet.
  • Demand of Demeter: A very powerful portal attack that targets the nearest enemy and launches them into the air.
• Lance of Hades
  • Curse of Acheron: An elemental soul wave that curses all enemies in range and applies a cursed shield on teammates.
  • Death's Blessing: Summon a powerful cloaking bubble, hiding oneself and shielding allies from visibility. Enemies inside will be cursed with drain.
• Maul of Hades
  • Curse of Sisyphus: Powerful elemental wave attack that sweeps enemies off their feet and curses them.
  • Persephone's Exile: Teleporting attack that targets the closest nearby enemy for a brutal slam attack from above.
• Spear of Hades
  • Persephone's Lament: An element based projectile attack that curses enemies.
  • Asphodel's Edge: Summons a hazardous line of elemental damage in front of one, launching and breaking the defenses of enemies. Explosion curses enemies.
• Sword of Hades
  • Petition of Pirithous: A quick triple dash attack that sweeps enemies. Successful hits on the third attack curses enemies.
  • Wraith's Ambush: Dive underground and emerge under the nearest enemy with an attack that knocks them back. Can do a launching attack.
• The Claws of Olympus
  • Assassin's Stealth: Lash out the gauntlets at an opponent launching them up and slamming them down.
  • Chains of Hades: Navigate around slashing opponents with the gauntlet.
• War Hammer of Hades
  • Charon's Sweep: Large sweeping attack that launches enemies and drain health.
  • Stolen Vitality: Grow to demigod size, leeching health with each attack. Can do a leaping slam attack during this state and gains max health bonus.

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Other

Standard Tactics: Hades uses his stealth to sneak up on an opponent and then attempt to steal their soul, if this doesn't work he will use the souls of the undead along with various attacks from his claws of Hades on his opponent.

Weaknesses: Nothing notable.

Trivia

• Many modern adaptations of Hades have often unfortunately tend to erroneously portray him as being corrupt, greedy, or evil, similar to the underworld gods of other mythologies or the fallen angel/demon Satan from the Bible. In actual Greek mythology, however, Hades was not inherently evil, and was in fact portrayed as more passive than evil. He merely gained the unpopular position of being lord of the dead after drawing lots with his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. Over time, however, living in the underworld made a recluse out of him, and ancient myths do not count him among the Twelve Olympians, as Hades spent most of his time away from Olympus tending to the dead. He was also portrayed as very strict, especially when it came to letting the living in, or the dead out, of his kingdom.
• The Evil from Pandora's box that infected Hades was most likely wrath; evidenced by his desire to have his revenge on Kratos for killing his family members.
• The same statue of Hades, in his horrific visage in God of War, appears in God of War III whilst Kratos is in the Underworld, and in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, in the Hades arena setting.
• Many confuse Hades with Thanatos, the personification of Death. Hades was the ruler and judge of the dead, but not the god of death itself.
• Hades was one of the few gods to remain faithful to their spouse. He, in fact, won Persephone over with gifts after having abducted her. She was only abducted as Demeter, her mother, did not agree to the marriage.
• During the fight in God of War III, Hades uses an attack similar to what Persephone did in Chains of Olympus, where they would conjure items from the ground; the only difference is that Persephone summoned light in her battle while Hades summoned chains in his.
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale features Hades as a background character, where his domain is invaded by the Patapon army. He also interacts with the players fighting in the foreground.
• Hades serves as one of the mentors for God of War: Ascension multiplayer.
• His masochistic nature and his claims about pain are quite similar to Pinhead from the Hellraiser franchise. Other similarities are his weapons, the Claws of Hades, which are a like to Pinhead's hooks; the fact he can pull out someone's soul as contradiction to Pinhead famous quote: "I will tear your soul apart." The spikes on his back are similar to the spikes driven in Pinhead's head.
• Hades shares the line "Your soul is mine" with the villain Shang Tsung of the Mortal Kombat franchise.
• The voice actor for Hades in the first game was Nolan North.
• Clancy Brown, the man who voiced Hades, is famous for his roles as Dr. Neo Cortex from the Crash Bandicoot series, the Kurgan from Highlander, Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants and Lex Luthor from Superman: The Animated Series. Hades is similar to the Kurgan during his fight with Kratos, fighting savagely and giving sadistic taunts.
• It is currently unknown why Hades gave Kratos the Army of Hades as he hated him for killing Persephone. This could be because he had put aside his grudge to help Kratos destroy Ares or that his feeling towards Kratos for killing Persephone were quite neutral, knowing the Spartan had no other choice. However, when Wrath infected him, it amplified his suppressed feelings of hatred towards the latter. It could also be due to the fact Kratos was under Zeus' and Athena's protection.
• Because he is one of the oldest of his siblings, Hades suffered longest inside of his father Cronos which would explain his grotesque appearance. The case may be the same for Hestia, one of his sisters.
• The reason for his cracked skull may be due to his head being repeatedly smashed against the ceiling during his fight with Kratos. He was shown to fight without hindrance when chunks of his own flesh had been cut out of his torso, so it's possible he could have fought all the same even with the damage.
• Hades and Helios are the only major gods in the God of War series to not have any children.
• When Kratos told Hephaestus that Hades was dead, he replied that he thought the death of Hades impossible. This might either imply that Hades was harder to kill because of his rule over the afterlife and was only defeated because Kratos pulled his soul out or allude to the fact that "Olympians overestimate themselves" (Kratos' immediate response).
• Hades was one of the few gods whose body didn't disappear after being killed by Kratos. The others are Helios and Hera.
• Hades' Helm, his Godly Possession, is coherent with the original Greek mythology, since Hades possessed a helmet which could make the user invisible.
• Hades and Persephone are the only Gods in the Greek series to be killed by the Ghost of Sparta while in the midst of combat. Every other God is weakened by Kratos beforehand before he delivers the final blow.
• Despite holding immensurable hate against Kratos, Hades was still able of recognizing one of his nephew's qualities, saying that he can see why Zeus is so taken with the Spartan and realizing that he is a capable warrior. This might been said because Kratos was able of defeating Hades's champion, Alrik.

Battle Records

None.

None.

None.