08-28-2013, 05:42 PM
Yes! I love this topic!! Kudos to Jaxen for starting it. (Don't let it go to your head).
Hades.
*smile*
First things first. God of the Underworld. He probably isn't literally responsible for the souls of the dead. So, I interpreted this to mean he is a master at controlling things underground. Picture your basic earth delving Talent with an affinity for geoscience.
Combined with the legend that his brothers were gods of the air and sea, Hades is most comfortable, and most powerful, when dealing with things below the surface. It feels right to him.
As a child, we used to go caving. All the time. Sometimes they were toured caves open to the public, other times they were random crevices someone discovered in the area and we would all see how far we could make it before being forced to turn back. My home state is also affectionately known as "The Cave State," and there are at least 6,300 recorded caves in the state. Of the state, there are a couple of main areas where they are most concentrated. I was raised right in the middle of one such area.
Everybody had legends about local caves. Jesse James hid out in one only a few minutes from where I lived. They were used by the native americans and were adopted as hiding places for Civil War soldiers. I've many times been through the deepest cave in the state which burrows several miles underground. Suffice to say, I know the peaceful silence and awe that it is to be underground. Far underground. Feeling the weight of the world above you and knowing the ceiling of the small tunnel that forces you to crawl on your hands and knees is all that's keeping you from being crushed to death, or never being found again.
I identify with this version of Hades. He senses the power most profoundly in the majestic underworld, and thus he feels at peace, safe, and where he belongs.
I have tried to stay away from describing him in the context of the fuller pantheon. Except that he was one of the three rulers, of whom he and Poseidon would defer to Zeus. The three may not have been literal brothers, because even words of the 3rd Age might translate to brother; such as Aes Sedai referring to one another as Sisters.
However it is clear that he was a fair and just ruler. Very wise, yet he brooked no nonsense. He was not a man of whim or foolhardy desire. And I don't think he hungered for power, at least to the point of usurping his brother's places. Merely that their mutual 'father' (Cronos; probably their predecessor) remained subdued.
Like Thal, I have also considered Hades role in relation to the other gods of the underworld/death (Lethe, Atropos). Yet as she didn't divulge much of it, perhaps she was wanting to keep this to a RAFO...?
Hades.
*smile*
First things first. God of the Underworld. He probably isn't literally responsible for the souls of the dead. So, I interpreted this to mean he is a master at controlling things underground. Picture your basic earth delving Talent with an affinity for geoscience.
Combined with the legend that his brothers were gods of the air and sea, Hades is most comfortable, and most powerful, when dealing with things below the surface. It feels right to him.
As a child, we used to go caving. All the time. Sometimes they were toured caves open to the public, other times they were random crevices someone discovered in the area and we would all see how far we could make it before being forced to turn back. My home state is also affectionately known as "The Cave State," and there are at least 6,300 recorded caves in the state. Of the state, there are a couple of main areas where they are most concentrated. I was raised right in the middle of one such area.
Everybody had legends about local caves. Jesse James hid out in one only a few minutes from where I lived. They were used by the native americans and were adopted as hiding places for Civil War soldiers. I've many times been through the deepest cave in the state which burrows several miles underground. Suffice to say, I know the peaceful silence and awe that it is to be underground. Far underground. Feeling the weight of the world above you and knowing the ceiling of the small tunnel that forces you to crawl on your hands and knees is all that's keeping you from being crushed to death, or never being found again.
I identify with this version of Hades. He senses the power most profoundly in the majestic underworld, and thus he feels at peace, safe, and where he belongs.
I have tried to stay away from describing him in the context of the fuller pantheon. Except that he was one of the three rulers, of whom he and Poseidon would defer to Zeus. The three may not have been literal brothers, because even words of the 3rd Age might translate to brother; such as Aes Sedai referring to one another as Sisters.
However it is clear that he was a fair and just ruler. Very wise, yet he brooked no nonsense. He was not a man of whim or foolhardy desire. And I don't think he hungered for power, at least to the point of usurping his brother's places. Merely that their mutual 'father' (Cronos; probably their predecessor) remained subdued.
Like Thal, I have also considered Hades role in relation to the other gods of the underworld/death (Lethe, Atropos). Yet as she didn't divulge much of it, perhaps she was wanting to keep this to a RAFO...?