Hera (God of War)

"Bravo! Bravo! Our hero has arrived. Applause for another bastard child of Zeus, just in time for the final act."

- Hera

"Good luck with that little whore you call Pandora."

- Hera's last words before death.

Hera, also known as; The Goddess of Marriage and Monogamy, is a minor antagonist in the video game; God of War III. She's the wife/sister of Zeus, and is one of the many Olympian Gods that wants Kratos dead.

Appearance
Hera is a average sized woman, wearing a blue and white dress. She has short brown hair and almost always wears a crown on her head. But one of the most notable things she always has on her person is a silver chalice with a square emerald.

Past
Hera is one of the children of the titan Cronos. However, due to being warned by an oracle that his children would one day betray both him and the Titans, Cronos thought that the best way to prevent this from happening was to imprison his children in his stomach. Hera was one of those that was imprisoned. However, Hera, along with her brothers and sisters ended being rescued by her younger brother Zeus. After being rescued, Zeus declared war on the Titans. It's unknown if she participated during the war or she was too lazy to fight.

After the war ended, Hera ended up marrying Zeus, and became the Goddess of Marriage and Monogamy. As a result the two ended up having two sons; Hephaestus, who became the Blacksmith God, and Ares, who became the God of War. However, Hera also had a bit of resent towards her husband/brother as he had multiple relationships towards the mortals, including; Alcmene, which resulted in her having Hercules, in which he became her champion, and Callisto, which resulted in the birth of Kratos and Deimos. After Zeus and Callisto had Kratos, Hera demanded her husband to kill him, but Zeus refused.

God of War
Though Hera doesn't appear in God of War, a statue of her head appears in the Cave of Madness. Kratos had to find two necklaces, one for Aphrodite, and one for Hera. After he was successful, Kratos pressed onward to acquire Pandora's Box. After Kratos opened Pandora's Box, the evils started to infect the God of Olympus. It's been suggested the Hera was infected by two evils; Sloth, due to her laziness, and Gluttony, due to her constant drinking.

God of War: Betrayal
Though Hera doesn't make an appearance in God of War: Betrayal, it's possible that she was the one who sent Argos to kill Kratos.

God of War III
When Kratos encounters Hera, she knew that Kratos seeked to kill her husband, but didn't try to stop him. She mentioned that after Kratos killed her son; Ares, fear of Kratos drove Zeus to killing him. When Kratos mentions Pandora, Hera tried to kill Kratos, but instead of fighting him, Hera brought forth, her champion, and watch them fight to the death.

After Kratos kills Hercules, Cronos, and Hephaestus, he seeked the labyrinth to find Pandora and Pandora's Box. When he found the entrance to the Labyrinth, which was an enchanted maze, he encountered Hera. Hera was trying her best to keep all the plants and vegetation alive. She mention that she told Zeus to kill Kratos the day he was born, but Zeus decided not to. She also told that Kratos was nothing but a stupid idiot, and that if he enters the maze, he'll never get out and will die there as an old man. But, Hera accidently dropped her chalice, and Kratos decided to take it with him. He eventually found out that the emerald on her chalice is the secret to exiting the maze. When he reach about halfway of the maze, Kratos encountered Hera again. This time she tries to fight Kratos but was easily pushed aside. When she was pushed aside, her crowd broke in two. She then claimed that everything that Kratos touches dies. Kratos decided to spare her and decides to walk away. But as soon as Hera called Pandora a "Little whore", Kratos kills Hera via snapping her neck. As soon as Hera died, all the plants and vegetation in the maze, and presumably the entire world, died with her. After she died, Kratos decided to use her corpse to help him exit the enchanted maze.

Powers and Abilities
Hera never showed any ability and never fought Kratos during the game, so her powers are left ambiguous. However as a goddess it is presumed she is Immortal thus she cannot die of age or disease. It is also presumed she has control and dominion over all plants as when she was killed, all plant life died with her. Also throughout the game, she was seen present in her garden rather quickly even though her garden is a maze (and the fact that she is highly intoxicated at that time, she wouldn't be able to make her way around the maze) so it is presumed she had the power to teleport.

Personality
It's unknown what her real personality is, (because she was highly intoxicated for the majority of the game) however it's possible that Hera has a hatred toward men, or children of Zeus that aren't hers. Even though she want to kill Kratos, she also seems to hate her husband/brother for creating another bastard child. She also seems to be incredibly lazy as she sends her champion to do her work, though this could be because of her being infect by the evil sloth when Kratos opened Pandora's Box. And during the fight between Kratos and Hercules, instead of cheering for Hercules, she instead laughs.

Trivia

 * Hera is voiced by Adrienne Barbeau.
 * In Greek Mythology, Hera is the goddess of Marriage and Monogamy.
 * Hera has dominion over all plants. In Greek Mythology, it is her sister Demeter who is the real goddess of plant life.
 * Hera's drinking is a reference to Dionysus the Greek god of wine.
 * Hera is a composite character of three gods from Mythology:
 * 1) Hera: sharing both name and personality.
 * 2) Demeter: association and dominion over plant life.
 * 3) Dionysus: her being a drunk.
 * It's possible that when Kratos opened Pandora's Box, Hera was infected by two evils; Gluttony and Sloth