Doesn't Hades Deserve His Villainous Reputation?

[Agent Z]

I know lots of Greek Mythology fans hate any adaptation that uses Hades as a Satan analogue while portraying the other gods as good guys or not as bad. But doesn't Hades kind of deserve this treatment. Sure he doesn't have a list of offenses as long as his siblings, but he its not like he was an innocent little lamb in the myths. We're talking about a guy who kidnapped a teenage girl and took her as his wife against her will or that of her mother's. In fact, some versions of this story, show that Demeter- who is one of the more likeable gods- neglected her duties leading to global starvation.

The New 52, of course, doesn't skirt over this, but tries to lay the blame for this at his self-loathing:

http://thanley.files.wordpress.com/2...eyourself1.jpg

But who deserves more pity; the self-loathing god or the innocent girl he kidnapped and tricked into remaining in the underworld for eternity:

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4...rizz3npg10.jpg

Yes Hades isn't as bad as Zeus or Poseidon but that seems damning with faint praise.

[Step]

Well, like you said, none of the gods were pure or whatever, even WW's "main" goddess Athena, turned Medusa into a monster just cause she was raped in one of her temples, and turned a women into a human spider because she was a better weaver, Hades deserves a villainous reputation just as much as every other god.

But this a comic and mythology is open to change, having a hero like Wonder Woman who's very origin is rooted in Greek mythology means, unless you want a God Of War type story, you can't really have every single one of her gods be a villain.

Though yeah, if they DO acknowledge one of his atrocities and make it out to be like he's some poor victim, I have an issue with that, but I never got the impression that the WW comic tried to make what he did to Persephone as some kind justifiable act.

[Aioros22]

The Gods in mythology are mirrors of human interactions. Thus humanity being made into their image.

Any Greek God would be considered just or harmful depending the action, circumstance or chosen side, case in point, even Athena wasn`t only just or rigtheous. In that regard they are every each one of us.

Hades being painted in a more modern sense as a villanious type, tends to go along with painting any underworld deity in the same general folder. If you deal with souls and your kingdom is the opposite extreme of Heavens, you almost automatically get a more negative connotion. I assume it`s been that way since the Bible was written with it`s more basic "good vs evil" approach.

[Vanguard-01]

Hades WAS a dark and fearsome god.

The Greeks did not worship him regularly. In fact, they usually didn't even dare to speak his name aloud. It was said that his favorite drink was the tears of those who mourned their lost loved ones.

That said? He wasn't evil. Very few polytheistic religions have a god who is "All Evil, All the Time." Set, in Egyptian mythology was considered the "God of Evil" (or more properly "Chaos) but even he played a vital role in the safety and security of the universe: he was THE god who was strong enough to defend Ra's solar barque from Apep every night as it journeyed through the Underworld.

Hades is no different. He may not be a nice guy. He does things that are downright reprehensible (Persephone.) But he is also NECESSARY and performs a vital function that sort of balances out his dickishness.

Truthfully NONE of the classic gods should be portrayed as "Satan analogues" or "pure evil." Morality in ancient times was just more complicated than that.

[Agent Z]

Step and Airos- I figured you guys might mention the Athena/Medusa thing. My main issue is that while readers agree it was an awful thing for Athena to do, Hades' actions from my own experiences kind of tend to get downplayed. That said thank you for replying.

[Vonter Voman]

It's not that he is a good guy, but the constant satanization of him in our "western vision" causes that reaction from who knows that he isn't supposed to be "the devil". Like you said, almost all the other gods are worse than him and yet they get to be "angelical". So the reaction is often to make him a good guy for overcompensation, so to speak.

[neonrideraryeh]

I feel like poetic license with mythological characters is justified providing you have some of the basic fundamentals that make them that character in the first place. It allows writers to put their own spin on something public domain. I've written good gods as jerks and jerky gods as good because I've wanted to see how a different perspectives would work. A subversion of the traditional view can be very interesting. Like Vanguard says above, it's all very grey in the original myths and everybody has good points and bad points. So whatever character thread the writer decides to follow is up to them, perhaps even choosing just one trait and focusing on that if they wanted. That means one guy's Hades doesn't have to be the same as the other guy's Hades. That said, I'd like to see more portrayals existing of the nicer Hades than the villainous one. The evil devil analogue does get a bit old when it's repeated so much. When the devil himself has been portrayed as a hero in some stories by people, then anything can happen? When I see a portrayal of a myth character that I don't enjoy, then at least I've got another portrayal that I do. I didn't really like Azz's portrayal of Artemis very much, but I like his Hera, but that's just my view because I can respect that somebody would want to do something totally different. At the same time, I like the classic versions too and would be fine with seeing a story have them exactly like the myth to see if they represent it well. But yeah, I like what Vanguard said; there is lots of grey and that is one of the many things that makes mythology so interesting.

[kochtgr]

Hades would be the perfect vilain not only for Wonder Woman but for the whole justice league! He should be to Diana what Darkseid is to Superman and even stronger, the jlu series and smallville comic did a great work of him making him too powerful that none hero alone could defeat him and that's how he should be in the 52dc . Unfortunally we have the Wonder Woman writer make him somekind of a kid with candles and then killed by First Born somehow instantly which is just ridiculous! The current writer is the worst when it comes to representing (destroying might be a better word) the gods...

[wonder39]

I know lots of Greek Mythology fans hate any adaptation that uses Hades as a Satan analogue while portraying the other gods as good guys or not as bad. But doesn't Hades kind of deserve this treatment. Sure he doesn't have a list of offenses as long as his siblings, but he its not like he was an innocent little lamb in the myths. We're talking about a guy who kidnapped a teenage girl and took her as his wife against her will or that of her mother's. In fact, some versions of this story, show that Demeter- who is one of the more likeable gods- neglected her duties leading to global starvation.

The New 52, of course, doesn't skirt over this, but tries to lay the blame for this at his self-loathing:

http://thanley.files.wordpress.com/2...eyourself1.jpg

But who deserves more pity; the self-loathing god or the innocent girl he kidnapped and tricked into remaining in the underworld for eternity:

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4...rizz3npg10.jpg

Yes Hades isn't as bad as Zeus or Poseidon but that seems damning with faint praise.

Arachne's undoing wasn't that she was a better weaver, but more that she was boastful and bragged that she was better than Athena.... even if she was, to brag that you were better than a Goddess? Probably not a good idea.... EVen in Christianity I don't think it's looked favorably (the sin of pride and all that)

M

[Step]

Arachne's undoing wasn't that she was a better weaver, but more that she was boastful and bragged that she was better than Athena.... even if she was, to brag that you were better than a Goddess? Probably not a good idea.... EVen in Christianity I don't think it's looked favorably (the sin of pride and all that)

M

Yeah, but that still doesn't seem like the kind of thing comic Athena would do, which is my point, plus I always got the impression she mainly turned her into a spider cause she had the ~audacity~ to weave the God's immoral actions, like Zeus sexually abusing women, which kinda just shows how taking the actual versions of the gods and putting them in WW's comic wouldn't work.

[Silvanus]

I know lots of Greek Mythology fans hate any adaptation that uses Hades as a Satan analogue while portraying the other gods as good guys or not as bad. But doesn't Hades kind of deserve this treatment. Sure he doesn't have a list of offenses as long as his siblings, but he its not like he was an innocent little lamb in the myths. We're talking about a guy who kidnapped a teenage girl and took her as his wife against her will or that of her mother's. In fact, some versions of this story, show that Demeter- who is one of the more likeable gods- neglected her duties leading to global starvation.

The New 52, of course, doesn't skirt over this, but tries to lay the blame for this at his self-loathing:

I don't think the book implies that his self-loathing excuses his actions towards Persephone or Wonder Woman. Maybe self-loathing was the motivation, or part of it, but that doesn't mean that Hades isn't culpable for his bad acts. The book portrays him as the kind of guy who would, at the wedding altar, use his fiance's own prized possession to force her to declare her love for him, or admit her lack of love and pay with her life. That makes him a pretty vile and malicious guy, as well as a pathetically self-loathing one; those aren't mutually exclusive. True, giving an explanation for his bad acts helped open the possibility that he could change; but that still didn't change the fact that he was a bad guy so far.

[wonder39]

Yeah, but that still doesn't seem like the kind of thing comic Athena would do, which is my point, plus I always got the impression she mainly turned her into a spider cause she had the ~audacity~ to weave the God's immoral actions, like Zeus sexually abusing women, which kinda just shows how taking the actual versions of the gods and putting them in WW's comic wouldn't work.

Oh for sure--

I hate the "real" versions of the Amazons, etc that have been plonked into the comic....much preferred the versions before the 52. More original, more interesting take on the whole mythology