![]() The Underworld was sometimes described as being accessible beyond the world-encircling River Ocean (Homer, Odyssey:10.508, 11.14, 24.11 Hesiod, Works and Days:170-174). While Hades’ thalassic locations might appear to be encroaching upon his namesake’s brother Poseidon’s realm, there might be logic underlying this. With the exception of More’s version of Amaurot, these seemingly perfect places have ‘gone to hell’ via critical oversights. Thomas More’s satire Utopia (1516) the notion of a sunken city might reflect Plato’s Atlantis whilst sharing the aesthetics and creative spirit The name ‘Amaurot’, its city districts and communal social structure stem from Top left: Gelnika Top right: Memoria Bottom: Amaurot.Īmaurot combines fictional utopias to convey a powerful message. Sea you in Hell: Final Fantasy’s Hades repeatedly has his dive underwater. Here, avoiding detection in his dark final refuge, tactically eluding the Flood of Light above the surface (especially harmful to an agent of darkness like himself), Emet-Selch sets up his base of operations and indulges himself in his memories by creating an illusion of his former home: the destroyed city of Amaurot, from which Emet-Selch is one of only a handful of survivors. Final Fantasy XIV presents Hades/Emet-Selch as a loner residing deep at the bottom of the ocean in the light-drenched world of the First. In Memoria, Final Fantasy IX’s Hades can be encountered within a magical reproduction of the seabed. The materia enabling the player to summon Hades in Final Fantasy VII is acquired in the sunken ruins of the crashed Shinra transport airship Gelnika (which the player can access using the submarine). Square Enix have established a trend of placing Hades deep at the bottom of the ocean. Likewise, Final Fantasy’s reclusive Hades also occupies gloomy regions, albeit not always where we might expect to find him. Hades drew the short straw by finding himself isolated from the other gods in the somewhat less agreeable kingdom of the Underworld. Poseidon ruled the sea (although his powers extended to land as the entity behind earthquakes). Zeus took the heavens, dominion over the earth and supremacy above other gods and beings. After the victorious Olympian gods overthrew the Titans, the three brothers (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) divided the world’s territories between them (Homer, Iliad:15.87-91 Homeric Hymn to Demeter:84-87). So inseparable is Hades from his realm that his name became a byword for it as early as Homer.Īccording to mythic tradition Hades was assigned his domain by lot. It was also sometimes considered to be connected to the real world via various entrances, and some earthly rivers were said to flow into it. ![]() The Underworld itself was visualised as a place beneath the Earth, with ideas about sub-regions developing over time. It is impossible to discuss Hades without first referring to his abode in the Greek Underworld/afterlife after all, Hades spent the vast majority of his time there in myth. Let’s open the gates and descend deeply into discussion. ![]() Like antiquity’s Hades, the dark god of Final Fantasy also assumes other pseudonyms: Melvien ( Final Fantasy XI) and Emet-Selch/Emperor Solus ( Final Fantasy XIV). Square Enix depicts Hades as either skeletal or human, depending on how prominent he is in a particular game’s story. Often he is depicted as a hellish villain (consider Disney’s Hercules for a memorable example) yet, in antiquity, Hades was not necessarily evil he just served a vital, albeit unsavoury, duty.Īlthough debuting as a summon in Final Fantasy VII, most frequently Hades’ Final Fantasy appearances range from fightable enemies to fleshed out major villains. Hades, Greek mythology’s god of the Underworld, regularly emerges in modern popular culture. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE READER SHOULD COMPLETE THE GAME BEFORE READING THIS. DISCLAIMER: CONTAINS SHADOWBRINGERS SPOILERS THROUGHOUT. ![]()
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