Hades (S1)

Hades was believed to be the god of the dead, riches, and the underworld, where all souls went after they died. In Christian belief systems, this underworld is seen as Hell, where the devil lives. 

Hades is one of the three sons of Cronus and Rhea. His siblings consist of Zeus, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. When his brother Zeus (and it some myths Poseidon), destroyed Cronus. All three brothers received parts of the universe to govern. Zeus took the sky to be the most powerful god because he was responsible for defeating Cronus. Poseidon then took the sea, leaving Hades with the underworld.  

His symbols are his guard dog, Cerberus, the drinking horn, and the scepter. Chiron is one of his servants. He brings the dead to the underworld. The Greeks thought that to get past Chiron, they needed to pay him. Because of this, when the Greeks buried their dead, they would put a coin in their mouth. It was believed that if they didn’t do this, that the souls of the dead would walk around lost for eternity, unable to pay Chiron.

He captured his wife, Persephone, when she was picking flowers with her mother and brought her down into the underworld. He fell in love with her when she was on Earth because of Aphrodite. Aphrodite was angry at Persephone for wanting to stay unmarried and be a virgin goddess. The goddess of love didn’t think that she should stay single, influencing Hades to fall in love with her. When he captured Persephone, she ate pomegranate seeds, making her stay in the underworld. But because Demeter was refraining from having the harvest, Zeus made it so Persephone will go see her mother and stay with Hades in the underworld during different parts of the year. This is the reasoning, Greeks believed, behind the changing of the seasons.