Few games in recent years have felt as vast and filled with endless discoveries to be made than Hades. This game seems to have never-ending dialogue for each of the characters, countless ways of completing a run, and much more to discover.
As a game filled with a ton of cool details, it’s very easy for some minor ones to slip by the average player. One can sink hundreds of hours into the game without hearing all of the cast’s dialogue or finding every Easter Egg. Here are some of the cool things you might have missed. Beware of major spoilers for the ending of the game!
17 Zeus’ Beard
An often-missed little detail that is particularly cool is that Zeus’ beard is actually made of clouds. This is rather fitting as he is the god of the sky and thunder, as well as being the king of the Olympian gods.
Noticeably, his laurels are made from lightning bolts too, which are also particularly cool. It does make you wonder if and how he manages to shave or trim his beard at all…
16 Familiar Hammer
Hades features an artifact called the Daedalus Hammer, which can improve your weapon by upgrading its attacks. The name of the hammer is of course a reference to Daedalus, the legendary inventor, and father of Ikaros.
However, the appearance of the hammer is very similar in design and color scheme to the hammer weapon that features in Bastion, Supergiant’s first game, though the handle is noticeably longer in Bastion.
15 The First Dionysus
There are many conflicting bits of story and myth in Ancient Greek Mythology, in part because different people believed different things, and it was so long ago that we only have bits and pieces to study today. Hades plays off of one of these bits of conflicting lore in a small bit of dialogue between Orpheus, Zagreus, and Dionysus. Zag and Dionysus decide to play a bit of a prank on Orpheus, convincing him that they are the same person.
This is a reference to the Zagreus of real-life mythology. Followers of a teaching called Orphism thought Zagreus was born of Zeus and Persephone and was torn apart by the Titans. Hera sent the Titans after him out of anger, and they destroyed his body. Athena saved his heart, and Zagreus was then reborn into the “first Dionysus.” Under this mythos, Zagreus and Dionysus are, in a way, one and the same, making this “prank” in the game a reference to real lore.
14 You Can Give Nectar To Bouldy
Nectar isn’t the most common Artifact, and there are quite a few characters that you’ll want to give it to in order to raise your friendship with them. But, if you want a bit of a boost and have a spare batch of Nectar, consider giving it to the ever-faithful Bouldy. It might be readily obvious, but you can actually give Bouldy the gift once you’ve spoken with Sisyphus enough.
In return, Bouldy will “believe in you,” and grant you a small boon called “Heart of Stone” with a random effect for the duration of the run. Here’s what you can get:
13 Pom Of Power
The Pom of Power is an artifact that can upgrade one of your boons by one level. There is also a Pom Slice item too, which fulfills a similar role but chooses a boon at random instead of allowing you to pick which is upgraded.
These “Poms” are pomegranates and are a reference to the myth of how Hades tricked Persephone into staying in the underworld by feeding her pomegranate seeds. Interestingly, the Pom of Power description states “The underworld’s pomegranate’s seeds contain a godlike power that belies appearances.” — a fitting description for both its uses in the game and how Persephone believed them to be nothing more than simple seeds in the myth.
12 Heterochromia
Zagreus has Heterochromia, meaning that he has two different colored eyes. More specifically, he inherited his red eye from his father, Hades, and his green eye from his mother, Persephone.
Thanatos actually mentions Zagreus’s inheriting his mother’s eye color when Zagreus first manages to reach Greece, with Thanatos saying that Zagreus has “her eyes. One of them, anyway”.
11 The Fury Sisters
Megaera is the first Fury that you will encounter, but she is actually one of three sisters. As you progress through the game and once you have defeated Megaera a number of times, her sisters will begin to fill in for her randomly as the boss at the end of Tartarus.
What’s interesting is that neither of Megaera’s sisters, named Alecto and Tisiphone, appear in the House of Hades when defeated. When you defeat either of them, they turn into a flurry of bats and disperse instead of being taken by Styx like Megaera is. This is because neither of them is allowed in the House of Hades, and some digging around and talking to characters reveals this to be due to “acts of insubordination long past”.
10 Lernie’s Name Change
The boss of the Asphodel section of the Underworld is the Lernean Bone Hydra — basically the skeletal remains of the Hydra that was slain by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors. Now, it occupies the River Phlegethon and attempts to stop Zagreus from entering Elysium.
After some time, Zagreus will start to ask the beast if it would be okay if he gave it a nickname, “Lernie.” From this point on, the boss health bar will say “Lernie the Bone Hydra” and vanquishing it will give the message “LERNIE VANQUISHED.”
9 Skelly’s Obol
The Ancient Greeks believed that the dead would travel to the Underworld via the River Styx, aboard a boat ferried by Charon, the ferryman. In order to pay for Charon’s services, the Greeks would place a single obol — an Ancient Greek coin — in the mouth of the dead before they were buried. This could be used to pay Charon.
Interestingly, Skelly, the helpful friend of Zagreus, holds a Charon’s Obol in his mouth if you look closely. This is a nice nod to Ancient Greek myth that’s easy to miss.
8 Hermes Knows
The only Olympian God that seems to have a direct role in the Underworld is Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Part of his role includes helping shepherd the dead to the Underworld, putting him in direct business with Charon. As a result, he seems privy to information that the other Olympian Gods are not.
After Zagreus’ first successful escape attempt, dialogue options show that Hermes seems to know that the Prince is continuously failing. It’s also shown that Hermes knows when Persephone returns to the Underworld, but agrees to keep it a secret.
7 Theseus and the Yarn of Ariadne
In real Greek Mythology, the hero Theseus slew the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Before this, though, the King of Crete’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with him. She gives him a sword for slaying the Minotaur and a ball of thread so he can find his way out of the maze.
Both of these characters are present in Hades. Theseus serves as the final boss of Elysium alongside the Minotaur, Asterius. However, Ariadne is only referenced in the Yarn of Ariadne boon from the Well of Charon. If Zagreus has this boon equipped and enters the Thesus/Asterius chamber, Theseus will be outraged and respond with some fitting dialogue.
6 Tisiphone’s New Words
The Fury Sisters serve as the rotating first boss, occupying the chamber at the end of Tartarus and blocking Zagreus’ way to Asphodel. Without the Pact of Punishment’s Extreme Measures condition, Zagreus will fight one of the three sisters at random.
Tisiphone is one of them, and she is only really capable of saying two words, it seems: “murder” and “murderer.” However, as you encounter her more and more, Zagreus will eventually try to teach her to say his name, to limited success.
5 Cause of Death
Shades, the souls and leftover beings of the dead, mill about the House of Hades, wandering the afterlife. Every once in a while though, a group of them will seem to form in a little circle, chatting about how they died.
If Zagreus interacts with this little group, a small text box will come up with dialogue from one of the shades. It’ll also list that shade’s cause of death, and some of them are quite humorous. One of them mentions Aphrodite and its cause of death is “dehydration,” seemingly calling this poor person “thirsty” for Aphrodite.
4 Support Call Dialogue
Certain characters — Megaera, Achilles, Dusa, Sisyphus, Thanatos, and Skelly — will give Zagreus a Companion after reaching a high-enough friendship level with him. These Companions can be used to summon that character (or in Sisyphus’ case, Bouldy) in battle.
However, since a majority of these characters are in the employ of Hades, they’ll comment if summoned against him. Furthermore, summoning certain characters will cause dialogue elsewhere as well, including Megaera’s shock when Dusa is summoned against her.
3 Employee of the Month
In the Lounge, a large board can be seen next to the Wretched Broker’s booth. On it, a random employee of the House of Hades will be shown, kind of like an “Employee of the Month” board. The featured employee will rotate with most runs, and if Zagreus examines it and the featured employee is nearby, there will be some attached dialogue.
Zagreus can appear as the featured employee sometimes, too, depending on certain circumstances. Many believe it requires gaining the true ending first before Zagreus will appear on the board. Cerberus, the fearsome three-headed dog, can sometimes be featured as well.
2 [REDACTED]
After gaining access to the Administrative Chamber, Zagreus can examine a filing cabinet that will show info from each of his various escape attempts. In each, it will state what finally finished him off, sending him back to the House of Hades.
If killed by the final boss, Hades himself, the page will simply say “[REDACTED],” probably due to the fact that Hades would rather not have it known that he is heading to the surface to stop Zagreus. Hypnos will also occasionally ask what [REDACTED] means after Zagreus is killed by Hades and speaks with him.
1 Supportive Shade
Theseus, as irritating as he can sometimes be, is still considered the Hero of Greece and worshipped by fans in Elysium. When you battle him, the fight will take place in a large arena with fans filling the stands and cheering for both him and Asterius. They even hang banners of his face from the stands.
However, one solitary shade stands out, as a supporter of Zagreus. This shade hangs a small, hardly-noticeable banner of the Prince, and smiles at him when he wins. Zagreus will even thank the shade for its support or dedicate his wins to it when he vanquishes the heroes and stands near the shade.
NEXT: Hades: How To Unlock The Aspect Of Gilgamesh
