Hades 2: The Olympian family tree explained

One of the best yet weirdest things about the pantheon of Greek gods – and in fact all of Greek mythology – is that just about anyone of any importance is somehow part of the same ridiculous family tree. As Melione goes around the underworld, she will encounter many gods and mortals of various origins, and she will often refer to many of them by their familial relation, even without knowing the details, you’re not doubt getting the picture of just how complex this family tree can look.

We’ll help make it as clear as possible by going through each major Olympian in the game and explain their relation to both Melione and any other important characters in the game.

Before we begin, bear in mind that there is plenty of Greek mythology that directly contradicts itself as to the parentage of many important figures, so we’re specifically looking at it in the context of Hades 2, which itself makes a few changes to certain aspects of the mythology, so bear with us.

Chronos

Relation to Melione: Grandfather

Let’s start with the Titan who sets the entire plot of Hades 2 into motion. Chronos is the Titan of time and the father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, which makes him the grandfather of Melione, Zagreus, and most other Olympians.

Chronos formerly ruled the world in the ancient age, but he was defeated and overthrown by the alliance of his three children alongside Hera, Hestia, and Demeter, who then founded the pantheon atop Olympus. His being was scattered throughout the underworld; however, unbeknownst to the gods, he spent thousands of years slowly reforming, which he succeeds in doing and retakes control of the underworld from Hades, triggering the events of Hades 2.

Primordial Chaos

Relation to Melione: Great Great Grandfather

When going back this far, the concept of paratage and even “giving birth” becomes more metaphorical than literal. Primordial Chaos is all that existed before the world as we know it came to be, which means it’s officially the origin point of this entire family tree. He is the “father” or Gaia, who is the mother of Chronos, which is how we trace this part of the family tree all the way up from Melione.

His other important daughter is Nyx, who isn’t an active character in Hades 2 like she is in the first game, but she is the mother of many important characters we’ll discuss later.

Hades and Persephone

Relation to Melione: Father and Mother

This one is pretty straightforward, so we put them both together as they are Melione and Zagreus’ parents. As previously mentioned, Hades is the son of Chronos and brother of Zeus and Poseidon. Persephone, meanwhile, is the daughter of Demeter and an unnamed mortal.

Zeus

Relation to Melione: Uncle

Zeus is the ruler of Olympus and someone who just can’t keep it in his pants. He’s Melione’s uncle but is also the father of many other Olympians thanks to his trysts with various other gods. Here is the full list of his children:

• Ares
• Hephaestus
• Ahea
• Artemis
• Apollo
• Hermes
• Dionysus
• Heracles

That makes all of the Olympians listed above Melione’s first cousins, by the way.

This can often be confusing, as some characters like Artemis refer to Melione as “sister” but this is in reference to their bond as members of the Silver Sisters, an order that serves Nyx and includes Artemis, Melione, Hecate, and Selene.

Demeter

Relation to Melione: Grandmother

Demeter is Persephone’s mother, which makes her Melione’s grandmother. Demeter comes from the branch of the family that originates from Hyperion, as opposed to Chronos, who is the son of Gaia. Demeter has many important sisters, including Hera, Hestia, and Selene.

Hera

Relation to Melione: Great Aunt

Hera is the queen of Olympus, even if Zeus has had many affairs with many other women. Hera is where this family tree gets a bit messy. Hera is Demeter’s sister, which makes her Melione’s Great Aunt by blood. However, as she married Zeus, she is also her Aunt by marriage.

As for which of Zeus’ many children she is mother to, that would be Ares and Hephaestus.

Poseidon

Relation to Melione: Uncle

The final son of Chronos, Poseidon is fairly inconsequential in terms of the family tree. While in mythology, he is the father of both Theseus and Polyphemus, the Hades games change this. Instead, the idea that he is Theseus’ father is just a false rumor spread by Zeus, and he only pretended to be Polyphemus’ father as a prank, as Poseidon knew that the cyclops hated the gods.

Selene

Relation to Melione: Great Aunt

Selene is another confusing case, as despite being her Great Aunt, Melione often refers to Selene as a “sister”. Much like with Artemis, this is due to their bond as Silver Sisters and is more of a found-family bond than a blood relation. Also, while not a direct descendant of Nyx, Selene does view Nyx as her mother, as she raised her.

Aphrodite

Relation to Melione: Great Aunt

Aphrodite is a strange case, and one of the examples of how the Hades games mess with Greek myth a bit, mostly so there’s as little incest in the story as possible. There are several different mythological accounts as to Aphrodite’s parentage, with the most well-known being the Iliad, where she is a daughter of Zeus. However, Hades 2 takes a different approach, and here Aphrodite is actually the daughter of Uranus, a son of Primordial Chaos. In this version of the family tree, that actually makes her the oldest of all the Olympian gods and both Zeus and Hades’ aunt.

Nyx’s Children

Relation to Melione: First Cousin, Twice Removed

While Nyx is captured by Chronos and thus unavailable in Hades 2, she does have many children, all of whom are important to the game’s story and allies of Melione. As Nyx is the daughter of Primordial Chaos, they are all a couple of branches higher on the family tree than Melione, which is where we get the “twice removed” thing from.  These include:

• Charon
• Moros
• Nemesis
• Eris
• Hypnos
• The Three Fates

These characters rarely interact with each other despite being related, though they do often reference each other in dialogue.

Hecate

Relation to Melione: Second Cousin

Hecate may feel like more of a motherly figure towards Melione, but they’re actually cousins at the same level on the family tree – we’re dealing with immortal beings here, you need to throw out your normal conceptions of how generations work.

Hecate is the granddaughter of Phoebe and Coeus, who were both children of Gaia and siblings to Chronos (and each other, but let’s not dwell on that), which means she and Melione aren’t as far apart on this family tree as you might think.

Odysseus

Relation to Melione: First Cousin, Thrice Removed

This family tree really branches out.

Odysseus is the great-grandson of Hermes, which puts him out on a quite far branch of the family, and is in fact several generations below Melione on the tree – but again, these are immortal beings, time is irrelevant here. This has very little bearing on anything, as Odysseus doesn’t even mention his great-grandfather, and he and Melione don’t seem to see each other as family, even if they technically are.

Circe and Medea

Relation to Melione: First Cousin, Once Removed (Circe); Second Cousin (Medea)

Grouping the two witches you find on the surface together, even if one is significantly sweeter than the other (just don’t look up how she got those pigs). Both Circe and Medea are descended from Helios, the brother of Demeter, Hera, Hestia, and Selene who doesn’t appear in Hades 2. Circe is Helios’ daughter, while Medea is his granddaughter.

Icarus

Relation to Melione: Second Cousin, five times removed

Ok, no. I draw the line here. At this point, you may as well not be related. Icarus is so many branches apart on this tree from Melione, and none of Icarus' direct relations even appear in Hades 2, so who cares?