King's Quest Omnipedia
King's Quest Omnipedia
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Hades

Hades is one of the afterlives in legends of the world of Daventry and was the underworld for ancient Greece. Pluto is the ruler of Hades. The gates to the underworld of Hades are guarded by Cerebus.

Background[]

Death fascinates men the world round, and there are as many philosophies about what comes after this life as there are, it seems, lives which end.[1] Hades is located under Serenia. A grotesque bridge of rib-like bones crossed the hot crevasse[2] in the Dark Forest that surrounding the Witch's House was located above Hades.[3] Spewing hot steam and and flames, the deep crevasse surrounded the strange little house.[4] There is no bottom to chasm. Nothing can be seen, except for the hot, bright glow from the fires of Hades. The crevasse spews hot steam and flames.

Hades is apparently a hellish afterlife, as Alexander thinks of its sulfurous fires, when he cracked open the rotten egg and poured the contents on the burning embers inside of a human skull.[5] The River Styx is known to pass near the border of Hades. Father Death may be associated with Hades, and it is said that Dark Forest is so confusing that even Death could have gotten lost there. Beyond Hades, the River Styx flows through the Realm of the Dead near the Land of the Green Isles.

There is a personage named Charon whose job it is to ferry souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hades. To the Greeks, he was thought of as a silent, shrouded old man. In time, the image became synonymous with death itself.[6] Charon apparently travels between Hades and the Realm of the Dead Underworld ferrying souls bound to both realms.

Achilles was once taken near Hades when he was a child. He was dipped into the river Styx, all but his heel. The cold waters of the river gave him invincibility to all attacks. His entire body was protected except for his heel. He grew up to be a great warrior. During the Trojan War, he nearly unstoppable, felled only by a wound to his heel.

Orpheus once traveled there to carrying a willow branch, and playing music for the lord of that realm. His skill moved the ruler of Hades to granting his request, if only for a short time.

Behind the scenes[]

Hades originates from Greek and Roman Mythology. It takes its name from Hades the god who rules the underworld, also known as Pluto. He was the husband of Persephone. Though Pluto ruled Hades, he was not the personification of Death, that was the role of Thanatos.

The River Styx apparently flows through both Hades and the Realm of the Dead perhaps connected via the Multiverse.

Charon may also be the same Boatman who takes individuals across the Poisoned Lake in Kolyma.

References[]

  1. Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles, pg
  2. Narrator (KQ5)
  3. KQC2E, pg
  4. Narrator (KQ5)
  5. KQC3E, pg
  6. The King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition
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