- “Love, happiness, joy.....They've all been taken from me. What I'm left with is only anger and thirst for vengeance.”
- ―Hades[src]
Hades is a character who appears in the fifth season of ABC's fantasy-drama series Once Upon a Time. He is the main antagonist of the second half of the season.
Hades is based on the animated character from the 1997 film Hercules and Hades from Greek Mythology.
After the heroes try to save Hook from the underworld, Hades tries to keep them down there until his old lover, Zelena, arrives. With true loves kiss, Hades is able to leave the Underworld, which allows him to try to rule Storybrooke, but he is eventually killed by Zelena after he destroys Robin Hood's soul with the Olympian crystal, ending Hades' reign for good.
Background[]
Hades is the ruler of the Underworld, a purgatory-like place where the souls of those with unfinished business on Earth go after their death. His lair resides in the caves beneath the Underworld library, accessible by taking an elevator.
Role in the series[]
Before the First Curse[]
Hades and Zelena in Oz
Years before the first Dark Curse was cast, Hades appears to Liam Jones (brother of Killian Jones), and persuades him to let the ship they are on the sink so that Hades can get new souls for the Underworld. He offers Liam the coveted Eye of the Storm stone as well as the safety of Liam and his brother if he agrees. Liam takes his offer, causing all the crew to die in the shipwreck. Liam and Hook survive, becoming members of the Royal Navy.
Some time following the events, Hades travels to the Land of Oz, where he meets Zelena, the wicked witch. Hades arrives as Zelena kills some residents of Oz. Hades and Zelena continue to spend time together, which develops into genuine love on Hades' part, which lasts for decades. However, the love fizzles out for Zelena who continues living in Oz.
After the Third Curse[]
Hades in Once Upon a Time.
When Hook is killed as the Dark One and Emma and the rest of the group arrive in the Underworld searching for him, Hades sends Cora to persuade Regina to leave the Underworld with Robin and Henry, or risk sending her father to Hell. Cora's repeated attempts to get rid of her husband actually help him to complete his unfinished business with Regina, allowing him to pass on to Heaven. His departure from the Underworld causes the hand on the fallen town clock to tick forward one minute. Later, Cora meets Hades in his lair insisting she receives her end of their bargain (which involves Regina's well-being), despite the failure of her mission. Hades makes a point to mention how much she cares for Regina despite abandoning her other daughter to become royalty, and as punishment, he reverts her to her peasant status, forcing her to deliver mill flour bags for all eternity.
After Megara escapes from the dungeon, she happens to be discovered by Emma and Regina. Megara leads them to the Underworld mines, as they are the entrance to the dungeon. Hades stops them and shows Emma Hook's bloody hook removed from his body. Later, after Megara and Hercules pass on, Hades tells Hook that for every soul that leaves the Underworld, he will keep one of Hook's friends behind as a replacement. Giving Hook a carving instrument, Hades tells him that Hook will get to pick three friends to stay behind since three souls moved on. Hook refuses, and Hades sends him down the River of Lost Souls, to be chained up and slowly lowered into the river to kill him.
After Rumplestiltskin, Milah, and Emma arrive at where Hook is being imprisoned, Emma goes in to save him while Milah guards the boat to make sure Rumple does not take it. Hades appears, freezes Milah in her place, and brings Rumplestiltskin back to his lair to offer him a deal: burn the boat and he will let Rumple return to Storybrooke. Rumple agrees to the deal and returns to the dock burning the boat. Hades then manipulates Rumple's magic to blast Milah into the River, killing her.
Later, Hades decides which of the heroes get to stay behind, since Hook refused. He chooses Regina, Emma, and Snow White, foiling Emma's plan to split her heart with Hook, so they can both return to Storybrooke.
Hades shows Mr. Gold the contract.
At some point, Hades discovers the crystal ball that Rumple had previously used, and repairs it. He spends hours trying to figure out why Rumple was affected by the image of Belle. After some investigating, he found out that Rumple was trying to find out where Baelfire went. As Baelfire is dead, the crystal ball instead showed Rumple his new, unborn child, that Belle is pregnant with. Hades also discovers a healer that Rumple had previously killed in the Enchanted Forest had a contract with the Dark One about taking his second-born child. Realizing that this can force Rumple to do his bidding, he has the healer sign over the contract to him. When Rumple approaches, asking Hades to send him home, he pretends to comply, but then tells him he is going to delay his return. He then shows Rumple the crystal ball, explaining that Belle is with child and that Hades now has the power to take the baby at any point, unless Rumple decides to work for him.
Hades learns of the mutiny being planned by Liam, Hook, and the rest of the heroes. Realizing they could discover his weakness, he pays a visit to Liam who is a bartender in the Underworld. Hades tells Liam that he needs him to find the storybook that is hidden in the Underworld Sorcerer's mansion, and rip out the last few pages that contain the story of Hades. When Liam asks why he should agree to help him, Hades threatens him with divulging his secret to Hook: that Liam lets the sailors aboard the ship drown, so he and his brother could get the jobs in the navy.
When Hook and Liam arrive at the cross-over point with the rest of the ships' crew, Hades appears, blowing Captain Silver over the edge of the cliff, sending him to Hell. He then explains to the rest of them that Liam will get to live because he held up the bargain he had with Hades, while Hook will die because he escaped from Hades' lair. Liam refuses to let Hades kill Hook, so Hades decides to kill Liam instead, knocking him off the edge of the cliff. Hook manages to grab his hand before pulling Liam decides he needs to make amends for his actions and let's go. As he falls, Hades watches in shock as the fiery surroundings change to a peaceful ocean, with a ship in the distance. Hades tells Hook he will pay for this before disappearing.
Back in his lair, the discarded pages of the storybook appear in one of the rivers. Hades takes them, searching through the pages and stopping on one with a picture of Zelena and himself, whispering that their secret is safe.
Hades is killed by Zelena
Hades later took Zelena for a ride where he wants Zelena to love him in order to restart his heart and proposes an offer to make chaos with him, but before that could happen, Hades learns that Gold and Peter Pan kidnapped Zelena in order to tear up the contract, which forced him to turn to Emma to help him. When he meets with Gold and Pan at the diner, he gives in and tears up the contract and is reunited with Zelena, whose true love kiss freed him of being confined to the Underworld and offers Emma and the outsiders a portal back to Storybrooke. However, he left out the part of deceiving everyone by turning over the Underworld to Cruella De Vil and the Blind Witch and destroying the ambrosia tree that Emma needed to restore Hook's soul back to the living. He and Zelena leave for Storybrooke before the others.
It turns out Hades didn't change, though he loves Zelena. He kills King Arthur with his abilities after he escaped from the Storybrooke Sheriff Department. Hades was later contacted by Mr. Gold who offers to make a deal with him as Hades is in Mr. Gold's kingdom. Hades declines the offer. After rebuilding the Olympian Crystal, Hades attempts to use it to murder Regina. However, Robin Hood takes the fatal stab and Zelena kills Hades with the Olympian Crystal where he is reduced to ash. Mr. Gold later visits the remains of Hades stating that he should have accepted his deal. He then takes the fragment of the Olympian Crystal out of the sand where he states that Storybrooke is his kingdom.
After Hades' death, his brother Zeus comes to Killian to assist him onto take him where he belongs, now that his unfinished business is complete. Zeus thanks Killian for his assistance in destroying Hades, and reveals himself as his brother. As a thank you, Killian is revived by Zeus and reunited with Emma.
Trivia[]
- Unlike his animated counterpart, this Hades is killed by Zelena, his lover, instead of imprisoned. He is also able to leave the underworld after a true loves kiss from Zelena, while the original character never leaves.
- As Hades is immortal, the only way to kill him is by the Olympian crystal.
- According to "Our Decay", Zeus was the one who stopped Hades' heart and it could only be restarted by a true love kiss.
Gallery[]
Promotional[]
Screenshots[]
