- In Hades 2, you play as the Melinoe, the princess of the underworld.
- A witch taught by Hecate, she goes out in vengeance to stop the Time Titan Chronos.
- Historically, Melinoe is the daughter of Persephone and Zeus, who tricked her by disguising himself as Hades.
In a surprising turn of events, and I cannot believe I am writing this, Hades 2 is out in early access. With it, the popular protagonist-based rogue-lite dungeon-crawler is again back for some randomized runs. And while the adventure of Zagreus enamored most of us gamers in the first game, returning players might wonder who our new protagonist is. After all, Zagreus cannot be found on the cover page. So, who is our new Hades 2 protagonist, and what is her history? Let’s find out!
Who Is the New Hades 2 Protagonist?
In Hades 2, instead of playing as Zaegreus, we play as Melinoe, the Princess of the Underworld. Malinoe is the daughter of Hades and Persephone and the sister of Zagreus. She is also the goddess of ghosts and nightmares. That is evident in the design made by Supergiant Games. Her right arm is a ghastly apparition through which you can see bones, while her left arm is that of flesh.
When you start Hades 2, you are tasked to take out the forces of Titans to reach Chronos, the Titan. Melinoe wants revenge for what happened to her family, including Hades, Persephone, and Zagreus. If you interact with the family portrait at your respawn area, you’ll also hear information from her about taking revenge for what happened to her family.
Besides that, Melinoe is a witch taught by Hecate in Hades 2, the goddess of witchcraft and crossroads in Greek Mythology. She is one of the prominent characters you’ll meet in the starting area.
Melinoe in Greek Mythology
Now, we are at one of my favorite sections, i.e., talking about history. As mentioned above, Melinoe is the goddess of ghosts and nightmares in Greek mythology. You’ll often see her artistic renditions include two halves.
One half is always a ghastly dark apparition, while the other is a crescent white and pale. This can denote her heritage, where the dark represents her underworld lineage, while the pale white represents her Olympian lineage.
Now, as per history, Melinoe is the child of Persephone with Zeus. As one of his whimsical habits, Zeus disguised himself as Hades, resulting in the birth of Melinoe. She was born at the mouth of Cocytus, one of the underworld rivers.
Ironically, Zaegreus, the son of Hades and the protagonist of Hades 1 was also born out of Zeus’s trickery. In that case, he took the form of Hades to trick Persephone.
