What You Need To Know About HADES 2 New Protagonist
Fans of the game Hades were ecstatic to see a trailer for Hades 2 at the game awards. The indie roguelike by Super Giant Games took the gaming world by storm winning tons of awards. And it's easy to see why, it took familiar Greek characters and let you control a lesser known entity, Zagreus.
Well now that the trailer has dropped for its sequel you may be asking yourself who is this new girl on the block? Fortunately, her name has been revealed as Melinoe which probably has you still wondering who exactly she is. Worry not, Twitter user @incorrectgreeks has you covered. Don’t let the handle fool you, the account specializes in making incorrect Greek god quotes and is actually pretty funny if you don’t already follow them. But they recently posted a good primer all about Melinoe, so let's jump in.
Melinoe is the daughter of Persephone. While the original Orphic Hymn says her father is Zeus who disguised himself as Hades (because what wouldn’t Zeus disguise himself as?), but there is apparently some debate about her true parentage. While these debates swirl around Zagreus as well, it could be an interesting thing to play with within the world of the game. Anyway, she is the Goddess of nightmares, night terrors, madness, darkness, ghosts and their offerings. That’s a lot, but it made her a pretty formidable and terrifying figure to the ancient Greeks. People would pray to her to avoid nightmares, send nightmares to their enemies, or as a way to communicate to their loved ones. She is often tied with Hekate who is likely the other figure featured in the trailer. Both have similarities in their powers. Melinoe is said to be half bright and half dark which I assume is where some of that character design originates. Since she was so scary not a lot is written about her as invoking her was probably not something done lightly. You can check out the full thread below which includes the Orphic Hymn describing her.
Honestly, she sounds like a perfect character to be the next protagonist in the series. I’m very excited to see what kind of powers she gets and how the Olympians decide to interact with her. Are you excited for Hades 2?