Hades (God of War)

"Kratos, so glad you could carve out some time for us. You know we need it. I sense some bad blood between us, Kratos. Oh, all the memories. They're overwhelming, really. Let's see... How many sins have you committed against me? Oh, that's right, you murdered my niece Athena. And what else, what else? Ah, and you killed my brother, Poseidon. And, I have not forgotten that it was you who butchered my beautiful Queen! I will see you suffer as I have suffered. Your soul is Mine."

- Hades before confronting Kratos.

Hades is the God of the Underworld and a major antagonist in the video game, God of War III. He originally started off as an ally towards Kratos, but after being infected by Pandora's Box, he (along with most of the God of Olympus) aided Zeus to kill Kratos.

Past
Before Hades was born, an oracle forewarned Cronos that one day, all of his children would rebel against all the Titans. To prevent that, Cronos decided to eat his children and imprisoned them in his stomach. When it was Hades turn, Cronos managed to consume him. It's never really confirmed but it's likely that during his imprisonment, Hades' head fell into some stomach acid resulting in his deformed skull-like face.

The Great War
After Zeus rebelled against Cronos and the Titans, Hades aided his brother in battling them. During the War, Hades engaged Cronos, himself and attempted to take his soul with his soul-stealing claws. However, Atlas interfered and managed to stop Hades with his Atlas Quake ability. Poseidon managed to weaken the Titan with his lightning magic and Hades took advantage of Atlas' weakened state, by tearing the Titan's soul from his body and absorbing it into himself. After Zeus banished the rest of the Titans to Tartarus, Hades, along with his godly brethren took control of the world, with Hades becoming lord of the Underworld.

Some time after the Great War, Hades had also kidnapped the Goddess; Persephone, brought her to the Underworld, and forced her to marry him.

God Of War
Hades appeared before Kratos on his journey to defeat Ares in translucent form and gave the Ghost of Sparta a spell called the Army of Hades to help him on his journey.

God Of War II
After Zeus' defeat at the hands of Kratos, the king of Olympus called a meeting of the gods, which Hades attended. Zeus asked his brethren to help him kill the fallen mortal, to which Hades accepted. However the meeting was disrupted upon the arrival of the Kratos with the Titans, so as to begin the Second Great War.

Attack on Olympus
With the Titans ascending Mt. Olympus, Hades quickly dropped down the side of the mountain and engaged them, succeeding in dislodging Oceanus from the mountainside.

Confronting Kratos
After Kratos fell into the Underworld, he found himself continually taunted and challenged by Hades, who was determined not to let the Ghost of Sparta escape again. After Kratos finally managed to find where the god of the dead was lurking, he taunted his enemy from the shadows, reminding him of how he had wronged him by slaying his brother, Poseidon, his niece, Athena, and worst of all, his wife, Persephone. Hades swore to make Kratos suffer as he had suffered and emerged from the darkness. Hades first attempting to take the Ghost of Sparta's soul, but was unsuccessful. A fierce battle began between the two with Kratos gouging out parts of Hades' body, such as Hades' Lung, and Kidney. Growing tired of Kratos, Hades attempted to drag Kratos into the River Styx.

However, Kratos managed to overpower Hades, and use both his Blades of Exile and Hades' claws to form a noose around Hades' neck. He started bashing Hades' head into the ceiling and dropped him into the Styx. Kratos then took the Claws of Hades for himself. But the God of the Underworld wasn't finished yet.

Hades absorbed the tormented souls in the River Styx and emerged out of the River as a giant version of himself without his helmet. Hades and Kratos resumed their battle and the Ghost of Sparta finally managed to defeat him by using the Claws of Hades to tear out Hades' soul and absorb it.

Now without his rulership of the Underworld, the tormented souls of the Styx rose up and dragged him down into the river. With the soul of Hades enabling him to swim in the Styx, Kratos dove in and came across Hades' mutilated body with a hole torn in the stomach. Also with the god of the underworld gone, the souls once kept there poured forth, now free.

Personality
Unlike most of the other gods, Hades has no concern for what goes on in the mortal world and instead focuses all of his attention on the Underworld. If someone wrongs him in anyway, Hades is quick to become furious towards them and hold a grudge against them. Hades also seems to be rather sardonic, as seen in the time leading up to his confrontation with Kratos when he constantly taunted and mocked him. He also seems to be a masochist, since even when he is taking rather painful strikes, he says that he only enjoys it.

Powers and Abilities
Being a god, Hades is immortal and cannot be harmed by common forms of attack. He has demonstrated the ability to grow in size, and a number of his powers draws from his control over the souls of the dead. Hades is enormously strong and skilled with the Claws of Hades, which he can use to tear the souls out of other beings that he can then absorb and grow stronger. Hades can also summon the Hands of Hades to grab his enemies. Hades is able to summon chains out of the ground that pierce his opponents, and can shoot a beam of spectral energy from his mouth. Hades is also able to regenerate from injuries by placing the flesh he lost back on his body, and was show to use telekinesis to attract the lost flesh back to his body.

Trivia

 * Though Hades did not appear in God of War: Betrayal, he was most likely behind Cerberus and the Undead Legionnaires appearing in Kratos' path, since he already hated Kratos for killing Persephone.
 * Hades was voiced by Clancy Brown in God of War III, who has voiced many videogame villains, such as Baron Praxis from Jak II and Uka Uka from the Crash Bandicoot series.
 * He also voiced Lex Luthor in many animations and Mr. Krabs.
 * However, Hades was voiced by Nolan North in God of War.
 * The reason Hades' appearance differs greatly from God of War to God of War II is most likely because the game developers had not expected the game to be such a success and thus had not planned sequel games.
 * The evil that infected Hades from Pandora's Box is most likely Hate as seen by his desire for vengeance against Kratos due to Kratos killing his family members.
 * Many incorrectly think of Hades as the god of death, but this is a position held by the god, Thanatos.
 * Many also often incorrectly compare Hades to other religious figures, such as Satan. Hades was not an inherently evil being, but was actually a recluse from the other gods and extremely strict towards allowing entrance and exit from the Underworld.
 * In God of War, Hades aided Kratos in killing Ares, and yet in the prequel, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Kratos killed his wife, Persephone. There are two possibilities why he helped Kratos;
 * 1; Zeus forced him to help Kratos toward his goals.
 * 2; Hades didn't care about his wife's death because she tried to destroy the Gods, until he was infected by Pandora's Box.
 * Hades resembles a Titan when his helmet is off.