Hades in the Sea of Souls

This scene from the Disney movie "Hercules" (created on June 13, 1997) displays the Greek underworld containing Charon, the skeletal ferryman, and Hades, the god of the dead. Charon transports the souls of the dead to the underworld, sailing along rivers from Styx and Archeron using his boat. Underneath the boat, are the bodies of the dead who are supposedly swimming in the path to the afterlife and are in an everlasting eternal state. In the movie, Hades is depicted as a cool but temperamental God, as seen by his skin color of blue and his fiery hair, which can change to red when he gets angry. He is the oldest brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and in the movie, he is forced to rule the underworld unwillingly by Zeus. The thought that he has to rule the underworld makes him upset as that is not something he is interested in, and instead, he aspires to rule Mount Olympus to replace Zeus (his brother).

Summary of Movie: When Hercules was born from Zeus and Hera, he was kidnapped by Panic and Pain (Hades's assistants) to strip him of his powers. However, Hercules grows up and trains to defeat monsters and eventually gets a message from his father. Once Hades finds out that Hercules still has his powers, he attempts to create several obstacles by unleashing the monsters from Tartarus, who then find their way to Mount Olympus to defeat Zeus. Eventually, Hercules meets Hades, and it shows how observant Hades is as he knows that Hercules's weakness is Meg and uses her to trap him. In the last parts of the movie, Hercules jumps into the River of Souls to find Meg, who should have killed him, but he lived which turned him into a God.

Works Cited:

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2025a, January 11). Hades. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hades-Greek-mythology

“Haides.” HADES (Haides) - Greek God of the Dead, King of the Underworld (Roman Pluto), www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Haides.html. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.

“Hercules (1997 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Jan. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules(1997film).

Wiki, Contributors to Disney. “Hades.” Disney Wiki, Fandom, Inc., disney.fandom.com/wiki/Hades. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.