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| “ | How very spirited! You truly think you can stop Time. Well, then... I would like to see you try. | „ |
| ~ Chronos |
Chronos is the Titan of Time, the father of Hades, Poseidon and Zeus and the main antagonist of Hades II.[1]
He has escaped from his prison in the depths of Tartarus and taken control of the Underworld imprisoning Hades, Persephone, Zagreus and the other members of the House of Hades. Now, he launches a war against the Olympian Gods, besieging Mount Olympus itself with the intent of restoring his old rule upon the world.
Chronos is the Guardian of Tartarus and the final Guardian of the Underworld Path.
Characteristics and Personality
Chronos behaves with an elegant and superficial affability; he is arrogant, cold, and calculating, showing apathy towards Melinoë's attempts to challenge his dominion to free the Underworld, and, ultimately, his son Hades and his enslaved family, compelling him to witness his loved ones frozen in time as his dominion is conquered.
Though initially coming off as apathetic to anything that does not involve his domain, he is not completely devoid of curiosity about the outside world sometimes taking the time to go out and observe the state of the world that his children have left his former kingdom in. He is also often insulting and mocking towards Melinoë throughout her journeys, and when they finally meet officially at the House of Hades, he often criticizes her and the other freedom fighters in the Crossroads as being an uncivilized bunch. During their fight, while he does not hesitate to wield his weapons against her, Chronos still maintains a diplomatic stance, preferring conversation over combat.
As a father, he's hated and feared by all of his children and his charges for being cruel and terrible to them, although Hades readily admits that he was at least a better father to them than Hyperion ever was to his own daughters. Chronos has a strong desire for control and is a supreme egotist, seeing himself as the victim of the story. His approach is less that of a traditional villain and more that of a disappointed father who always believes he knows what is best for his children, disciplining and punishing them as he sees fit from which they will only learn "over time".
Chronos has a dark comedic side, joking that his son let his beard grow before him; he can't help but let out a sinister laugh if the player backs down from a confrontation. He is also very cunning, being a master of deception, he manages to locate and banish the Fates far away where they could no longer interfere in his plans. It is revealed that he deliberately deceived Chaos into telling him where they lived simply because he had wanted to test the magnitude of their power out of curiosity.
Although one might assume he was as chaotic and destructive as the rest of the Titans, Aphrodite mentions that she found his reign to be "overall boring", implying that his reign over the world was in fact very similar to Hades' benevolent yet tyrannical approach to ruling over the Underworld and the dead, and he seems to have garnered a legion of loyal subjects as they all rallied to him when they summoned him, showing that he was at least a good ruler to them.
Physical description
As a Titan, Chronos towers over mortals, being roughly twice Melinoë's height, although his frame is far leaner than his sons' bulky frame. He has dark grey skin with a number of golden scars all over his body, combed-back white hair, glowing white eyes, and a small golden halo. Although not seen in his portrait, his legs also gradually become completely golden in color towards his feet. Chronos also wields a curved gold scythe, which, during combat, becomes much longer while also gaining three dark-colored pairs of wings on his back.
His attire has a curiously Egyptian aesthetic, consisting of a white tunic with a pattern of a golden hourglass, a collection of bangles along his arms, and a golden Usekh collar embossed with the Roman numerals of a clock.
Background
Chronos ruled the earth in ancient times but was overthrown by his three children Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and their three allies Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, the founding Olympians. They cut him into innumerable pieces with his own scythe and scattered them throughout the darkest depths of Tartarus.
Chronos appeared suddenly in the House of Hades, using his control over time to imprison Nyx, Persephone, Dusa, Thanatos, Achilles, Megaera, and Zagreus in a moment that would never pass. After ensuring his daughter Melinoë's safety, Hades confronted his father, who explained that he sought vengeance against the gods for stealing his throne and killing him. He ordered Hades to tell him the location of the Three Fates, but Hades didn't know it. Rather than freezing his son in time, Chronos imprisoned him in Sisyphus' chamber of Tartarus so that he could send his minions to torment Hades for his amusement. He then visited Chaos, who, unaware of his scheme, used their omniscience to find the location of the Fates. Chronos used this knowledge to capture the Fates, imprisoning them somewhere in the Underworld.
Hades II
With the leadership of the Underworld destabilized, Chronos put his plan into action. He deliberately disrupted the workings of the Underworld, creating a situation where the lost souls of dead mortals would stagnate in Erebus and their bodies would remain animated on the mortal plane. With his army of faithful cultists, he organized these dead into an army that would march on Mount Olympus to dethrone the gods. They were able to successfully hold back the undead forces for years, but the attacks only grew in intensity, as the dead could not permanently die without being processed through Erebus.
Unbeknownst to the Titan, forces loyal to Hades had gathered under the banner of Hecate and plotted to kill him once more. The rebels' trump card; Melinoë, daughter of Hades, who was able to repeatedly infiltrate the House of Hades and kill Chronos. However, she could not inflict damage to his body nearly as thoroughly as the Olympians had, and he regenerated much more quickly to continue his assault on the gods.
Book of Shadows Entry
Trivia
- Chronos in Hades is an amalgamation of two deities from Greek mythology:
- Chronos is the personification of Time, the husband of Ananke and the father of Erebus, Nyx, Aether and Hemera.
- Cronus is the Titan God of the Harvest, the husband of Rhea and the father of Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.
- A common motif that occurred in Greek mythology was the attribution of Cronus with Time as his name was extremely similar to Chronos. Some writers in classical antiquity believed that one was simply an aspect of the other.
- When attempting to abandon a night and return to the Crossroads, Chronos' ominous laughter can be heard during the warning screen.[2] This can be interpreted as Chronos mocking Melinoë for giving up.
- Chronos in Greek mythology is often said to be the most selfish and abusive of the Titans, having imprisoned his own children inside his stomach to ensure that they couldn't overthrow him in the future.
- In Hades, this role appears to have been transferred to the Titan Hyperion who was apparently the cruelest of the Titans as Hades mentions that Chronos was actually a better father to his children then Hyperion was to his daughters.
- Prior to The Olympic Update, if the player attempted to pause the game during Chronos' boss fight, he forcibly resumed the game.[3] If the Power to Pause and Reflect incantation was used, then Chronos no longer un-paused the game and had various comments about it, ranging from surprised to annoyed.[4]
- He uses a scythe in battle. Cronus (one of the deities that make up this version of Chronos) was said to have a scythe in Greek mythology.
- Chronos will reveal the name of his scythe, Hrodreptus, if you confront him wielding Zorephet's Aspect of Thanatos.
- Although Hrodreptus (Χροδρέπτης) isn't an actual ancient Greek word, it could derive from hro (χρόνος), meaning “time”, and dreptus (δρέπω), meaning “to reap”. Thus, the name might be translated as “Time Reaper”.
- Chronos is not susceptible to the Phase Shift Hex from Selene, which slows down time.
- Chronos's symbol is that of an hourglass, seen in his design, Hades's chains and in the Gold Crowns. His body is also somewhat hourglass-shaped.
- Certain elements of Chronos' design are anachronistic to ancient Greece and instead draw from time periods in the past and future. These combined elements portray how Chronos presides all of history.
- His general appearance seems heavily inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology.
- The gold veins throughout his body allude to the traditional Japanese art of kintsugi, in which broken pottery is mended with gold in its cracks. The practice is first recorded in the 15th century.
- His collar has Roman numerals from the Roman Empire (1st century BCE). As seen in rooms in Tartarus, the roman numeral for four (4) for rooms and the clock is IIII, not IV. The use IV for 4 was not adopted until the 17th century, so IIII can be seen on some older clocks.[5]
- He and Charon have a big rivalry going on.
- This appears to be simply because Chronos melted Charon's obols and formed new coins with his symbol. However, it could also be tied to how Charon was sometimes mixed with Chronos and identified as the God of Time.
- The myth of Chronos eating his children is alluded to in the game but whether it truly happened is unknown as Chronos himself denies it and claims that the tale is just slander from the gods.
- However, during the flashback with Hades, he assures his son that he hasn't eaten his family or the other members of the House of Hades though this could've just been him mocking the Olympians propaganda with his usual black humor.
- The Eternity Arcana, which depicts Chronos, is designed similarly to the Hanged Man tarot card.
- The Hanged Man tarot is said to signify wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination and prophecy, and selfishness, the crowd and body politic when reversed. Ironically, while the design show Chronos upside down, the meanings of a reversed Hanged Man card fit him better.
Gallery
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Chronos Battle Portrait -
Chronos in Erebus Portrait -
Chronos featured in 'Eternity' Arcana Card
Additional notes
- For additional information on Chronos that does not pertain to Hades, see Wikipedia's article: Chronos
- For additional information on Cronus that does not pertain to Hades, see Wikipedia's article: Cronus
References
- ↑ https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades2-faq/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/U-wwwPi_n44
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Vn6BAi66cUQ?si=ykO2IIH-yF49vswX&t=19
- ↑ https://youtu.be/v3ryQwn1Kcs?si=3DlUJvL1MrMx7yOU&t=18
- ↑ Reply from Supergiant in the original post. https://x.com/teablader/status/1788512033933083093
