Hades: Where is the Love?

[Javier Cross]

Akherontis

Javier Cross

Luna Lumine

Hermes07

I adore Hades, one of the very few faithful husbands and a proud one at that. He never wanted to be lord of the dead and is sore on the subject, and it was Persephone who choose to stay with him. She ate three seeds of her own free will and told her mother the story of how she was tricked into eating only one. He gave her a small paradise so she wouldn't feel to far from her mother well she was away and never had a child because she wished to stay pure. This was very rare for back then. To have any respect for a woman as a person not just something you owned. He had the respect and he loved her very much.

~That just made my day. Thanks.

~I thought it was that and the fact that Hades was infertile, as a Lord of the Dead should be (quoted from a random website I forgot the title/address of.) Come to think of it, usually the male gods can't keep it in their pants.

~Where's the love for Hades? In the mourner's hearts, pointed in the other direction. It's simple. Woebegone and greiving family and friends hate him because he is a reminder of their loved ones' deaths.

Hades needs a hug or two.
Is anyone other than me willing to give it to him?
Because i am not sure if Cows can give hugs!

I'd give him a hug, but I'm deathly affrighted that he might take it badly and send me to Tartaros, where I'd get squeezed by iron chains for one hundred years. No thanks.

My heart would scold me if i don't try to give Hades a hug, but my mind would scold me if i do make some sort of attempt.

What gives?  

[A Crooked Love]

I'd give him a hug...but yeah he is my favorite out of the brothers (Poseidon being my least that b*****d rapist, at least Zeus generally takes the time to seduce his victims) and I think is greatly misunderstood. I don't approve of the whole kidnapping thing though I do greatly respect Demeter essentially bringing the gods to their knees by killing off the crops that feed their worshipers. Got to love those strong female types excluding Athena.  

[Spottedteddybears]

I think Hades is a nice guy. Hey, all Olympians have their moments. Remember what Orpheus did to him? He does have feelings.  

[Javier Cross]

Spottedteddybears

I think Hades is a nice guy. Hey, all Olympians have their moments. Remember what Orpheus did to him? He does have feelings.

You can say that again.
All the gods from the line of Kronos[plus Lady Aphrodite] have both their good and bad moments!  

[Eileen Eir]

My opinion of Hades?
Well lets just say, I would be very willing to be abducted by him.

He has definitely been given a bad name. He is the ruler of the underworld, not the god of evil.
Stupid media and other sensitive subjects...

He does seem to have a morbid personality though, right?

 

[Fireweed_honey]

Okay, this might get a little long. For starters, I am a huge Hades fangirl. I am also writing a book series based on Greek myths set in space, so the Hades/Persephone myth was one I studied a lot since it's going to be book two. I have a quick run down on everything I learned in my studies of the past two years.

1. The ancient Greeks tried to not think about Hades. There are no temples to him, no one really said his name, he had no feast days, and all his myths are shared with others.

2. The myths about him and Persephone are varied. He either had permission from Zeus to kidnap Persephone or he didn't. He either wooed Persephone or he didn't. Persephone either ate the pomegranet of her own free will or she was tricked. My favorite version is that Hades holds the fruit out to her when he learns that Hermes is coming for her and asks her to eat it. As for who told, it was either Persephone, Hades or Persephone's garden boy (who was getting revenge for Demeter turning him into a lizard).

3. The Minthe myth: this is a throw away myth. Most of the time, the only reference to it is a sentence. Either Minthe was Hades' lover before Persephone and was angry that Hades chose Persephone over her. This resulted in her saying she was as good/better/or prettier than the goddess and either Persphone or Demeter stomps her into the ground. Or, Minthe was Hades' girlfriend after his marriage and Persephone stomps her in the ground. Though, Hades was just as possessive of Persephone. He did capture and keep a foolish mortal who thought to steal her from him.

4. Hades and Persephone never had any children. Persephone is credited with having a daughter (mostly forgotten now), but the myth states that Hades wasn't the father. Persephone didn't have an affair, but was seduced by her own father who disguised himself as Hades. Yep, Zeus fathered a kid by his daughter.

I think that's everything. As I said, I am a huge fangirl. My dream is to travel to Greece and visit Eleusis, which is the town that has the Temple of Demeter and the Cave of Hades. It's said to be the spot where Hades brought Persephone up to be reunited with her mother.

As for how Hades is portrayed by modern media: booo! He was not the bad guy. He was a fact of life. I was very disappointed with Disney's Heracles, the PJ: Lightning Thief movie, and the remake of Clash of the Titans. For crying out loud, make someone else the villian for a change!  

[Rekoj Dekciw]

I think Hades is misunderstood.
And I hate how movies and such portray him as a fat greedy demon evil brother.
lol.
Really he isn't.
And look at his undying devotion to Persephone.
He is the greatest.
And Zues and Posiden are just being the evil older brothers when it comes to Hades.
Give him a chance!!!!

 

[jbsnickerdoodle]

DISCLAIMER:I did not read the rest of the thread [aside from the first couple comments]


It really just depends on the situation. You know, how like orpheus was supposed to take his wife to the surface, it was HIS mistake of looking that caused her to vanish.[like this! burning_eyes ] It's all this gossip that CAUSED HIM TO LOOK in the first place. And she WAS there if you didn't [ but SHOULD!] know.  

[kingofthedead_hades]

*is always late to everything* :3 Hades has to be one of my favorite Gods heart

@Fireweed_honey *high-fives* You fangirl like my friend and I do XD We both adore the myth of Hades and Persephone. (though we do romanticize it a bit)

Truly in my honest opinion, Hades is the most misunderstood, and most misrepresented. There is an old Disney cartoon (and I mean OLD) where he is depicted and the Christin devil. >.< That really bothers me. I wasn't too ticked when Disney revived Hades in "Hercules" (I admit, James Woods had me cracking up) But still, I only wish he wasn't shown so much as a bad guy... :3  

[ironqueen_persephone]

I think Hades is probably the most misunderstood god in Greek Mythology. He's clearly not the bad guy, no matter what movies have to say about him.

He never wanted to overthrow anyone. True enough that he wasn't happy with being tricked into ruling the Underworld, but he came to accept his duty.

He was very lonely, which I think is part of the reason he was initially attracted to Persephone. She was sunshine and goodness when he had to live forever in darkness. He kept to himself, but he wasn't malicious. Regardless of the fact that he kidnapped his wife, she came to love him anyway, and it wouldn't be easy to love someone who kidnapped you if they were ill-tempered and foul.

Their marriage was relatively peaceful, in comparison to the marriages of other gods (Zeus/Hera, Poseidon/Amphitrite, and Aphrodite/Hephaestus to name a few). There's that Minthe story, but who knows if that was even while Persephone was around? Also, he allowed her to have equal status with him as a ruler, which is something the other gods didn't do.

I think Hades was probably feared by the ancient Greeks because he was a god of the dead. It's fear of the unknown; of what will happen when they die.

I think that's all I have to say...XD