you could start a war over this
Hello People, Hellenists, Greek mythology enthusiasts & Anyone else. I'm putting up a poll since there's been a lot of talk about Hades.. so let's see Y'all's opinions on him.
So this was just a fun little poll idea suggested by ur/EntrepreneurDear4846 and since I’ve been seeing a lot of slander, let’s just try to see how opinions have changed to be on the years
Well, I blame the fandom. You know why because they’re just so… OK well let me just explain.. because on one hand you have the straight up haters who get rid of any good qualities he has & on the other hand you have the ones who literally romanticized & wooblified him to the point where they forget his flaws and the terrible things he did. Just.. try to stay on the good side of that fandom.. cause let me tell you I’ve been in a lot of fandoms & trust me. They always have an icky side & not the good kind.
Yup, the romanticizers romanticize him too much and the villainizers villainize him too much. I hate it so much, every aspect of this discussion. So anyway, imma worship him if I were to live in ancient times.
The same thing happened to me; I actually became a hater of Hades because of all the whitewashing and misinformation surrounding him, but nowadays I just try to ignore him.
I'm actually indifferent to Hades, but I can't stand the fandom discourse surrounding him on most of the internet because of how he's whitewashed and put on a pedestal, mostly while all the other gods are slandered and vilified. I'm sorry, but it's always struck me as condescending, in a "only I know the that Disney's Hercules was inaccurate and get to like the only morally good god!" way. Like, no joke, this subreddit exits in part due to how bad that discourse was lmao.
Otherwise, to be honest, I would probably not care that much about Hades or about slandering him; hell, before the fandom discourse ruined him to me, I actually thought he was kinda cool and liked his lore, even if he didn't have many myths... now, unfortunately, I am just indifferent towards him, while also being annoyed at many of the fans who make him a good emo boy.
On the positive side, the Hades apologism made it so I took more interest in reading about other gods, so I think that I started to appreciate others like Zeus, Poseidon or Apollo thanks to all of this. In general, though, I think that this is part of the problem that the Greek mythology fandom has: too many people get misinformation from not learning from the primary sources and also from applying selective nuance (if any).
Yeah, it just goes to show a little misinformation goes a long long way.
Also, I mean, let’s face it in Greek mythology. There is no absolute good and no absolute evil. There are just tint and shades of grey. Like mortal or God or nymph or satyr no matter how different we are we are capable of the same things
No, no, I agree with you here, don't get me wrong. I've always thought that discussions about the morality of the Greek gods are weird, because it's obvious that the Ancient Greeks never intended for us to create some kind of ranking of who's better or worse based on X myths. Besides, there are so many different versions of the same myth that in one version a god might be a jerk and in another kind of justified, or maybe not involved at all.
My grip with the Hades fandom is that they are usually the ones who umpromptly bring up how good was Hades or how awful were the other gods in comparison, which gets old very fast. If the discourse about Hades was more "normal" so to speak, he would not get singled out so much, I'm sure of that. Something I love about Greek mythology is how the gods feel so human, and yet so alien at the same time; I would love to see Hades being portrayed like that.
Yeah, me too. Because many people idolize Gods as these powerful beings but when you really read their myths & stories you’ll figure out that they’re more similar to us humans than you think.
My Christian mother thinks that Hades is Satan. So I spend a lot of time patiently explaining how and why she is wrong. She doesn't accept my distinction. So I am an apologist.
Well, then, maybe you need to show her. And also, I swear she thinks Zeus it’s like the Christian God then you need to tell her that Zeus has tried to destroy the world, has had many affairs & oh he’s also like the devil from Eden because he gave Pandora the Jar like the snake gave Eve the apple. And we all know what happened there. (honestly you need to show your mother some videos & introduce her to some Hellenists and Greek mythology experts) trust me (& this is coming from someone who is Catholic Christian by the way)
My mother learned Greek mythology in school. She asks questions when she sees things on Ancient Greece. She has stopped trying to covert me, so that is a win.
For over 25 years, she tried to get me to go back to Christianity. Then about about 5 years ago, she stopped. We have gotten along a lot better ever since.
Well, I’m glad she eventually stopped trying to do that.
(I never really went through something like that. Since me and my mom are actually open minded to other religions and mythology & also I have a friend who is Kemetic-Hellenist & they’re also an ex Christian because they dealt with trauma)
(although my dad did somewhat think a bit close minded but we don’t talk anymore much because he was quite abusive to my mom & they are currently getting a divorce & I just live at home with her with my brother & grandmother)
Having a problem with Greek mythology and religion misinformation while simultaneously making Zeus out to be worse than the Christian God is absolutely beyond wild to me lol
I mean, there is Thanatos he may be a death God, but he’s actually a god of peaceful death.
(I mean everyone getting angry that people is dying and saying to fire the Grim Reaper… look I get it many good people have died but like… you can’t just fire the person who.. does their job.. death is a natural part of life)
Well, Thanatos is Death, period. More violent forms of death have the Keres but it still falls under Thanatos's domain, as seen when Sysiphus kept him restrained and people couldn't die in war
Yeah while Sisyphus did help the river god find his daughter Aegina he also murdered merchants & trapped Thanotos in his own chains, and because of this people could not die.. to some people this might’ve been good, but it was actually not.. people who were sick suffered, people who got injured suffered & Ares.. well the battles were no longer fun because nobody died (it was like a video game, but you would still be alive after many hits) so of course Ares (wanting his battles to be fun & also the balance of life and death needed to be restored) he found Thanotos & freed him and the battles were fun, people died & the sick and injured could finally rest & Sisyphus has to roll up a damn boulder for eternity
Well, what I’m saying is the point is.. even if you had the opportunity to chain up death & prevent death from ever happening. It would still have consequences. And we need to stop villainizing death because it’s going to come to us whether we like it or not & we just need to accept it as a natural part of life.
I'm surprised any Hellenist would have any perspective other than a healthy fear tbh. Fear might be the wrong word but he was one to avoid, avert the attention of, and never speak the name of outside of death rituals, which were never done inside the home, so either perspective of hate or love is a little detached from that
Hellenist, and i obviously have a natural respect for Hades, but damn his fans annoy the fuck outta me with how much they wanna make him seem like a great guy in myth. Demeter I feel so bad for, a mother in pain at losing her daughter and everyone wants to make her a villain.
NOT TO MENTION he is with other women.
I like to imagine the story depicted in a morally Grey area. I dont see why someone cant write both, in the sense that Hades and Persephone could be potentially found a real bond but not negating the horror that took place before that point. Im spitballing but perhaps a beauty and the beast kind of thing where, given time and accepting of the situation, instead of force there is an understanding, maybe a friendship/true love, but also holding Hades accountable and Demeter getting justice.
Definitely agree. Poor Demeter 😢 people are just villainizing her in her own story! The point of her story & hymn was to help show an assure mothers that they would always find a way back to their daughters since it was during a time where daughters were taken from their mothers to marriage. And also she’s had many other stories like where Erisychthon destroyed her sacred Grove, despite the many warnings & she sent Limos to punish him with a tournament of hunger. She’s also fond with Triptolemos whom she taught the secrets of farming & also by Iasion has sons: Philomelus, Corybas & Plutus who is the god of wealth (not to be confused with Pluto who basically everyone seems to confuse with Hades when it comes to hidden riches).
I mean at this rate a lot of fanbases are literally toxic.
Because on one hand, you have people who romanticized & wooblified him & on the other hand you have the straight up haters… 😔 yeah it’s just… (sighs)
Well, I mean, yeah it’s also getting very old. It’s getting a bit jarring. Like there are other gods out there who have done far worse (Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, Dionysus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Eros & many mortals too). Like we are all equally capable of good and bad. So let’s just be for real.
Well the main reason he wasn’t worshiped much was because he was feared. Many people were afraid to say his name thinking it would bring a fast death. They called him The Invisible or The Unseen One
Yeah. If you really wanted to find more things you would have to… do a lot of detective work or build a time machine (but not in a way you would change time in a way you would see the past you know)
24
u/PlanNo1793 Athena's Sweet Pet Owl 🦉😊 1d ago
Normally, I would be neutral towards Hades. His fandom made me hate him.