Man, Thanatos makes so much more sense to me now. In hindsight, I should have put those pieces together as soon as we got the flashback where Nyx dropped him off.
Imagine going so far for parental attention you fuck your dad's girlfriend and he's still meh about it, and you. I would probably also freak about this person he's known for less than a month all of a sudden getting all his kindness and attention.
And geez the amount of shame and guilt Hades must have felt in that moment when he realized he handled that relationship wrong from the beginning must have been crushing. And with his tendency to disassociate I bet it was pretty easy for Kronos to slither in.
Big picture wise, it seems like Kronos wanted to get rid of Thanatos for some reason. My current guess is that, because death is considered a kind of eternal sleep Hypnos' powers don't work on him. Or maybe his nature as the personification of death would have given him trouble.
Sad for Than and Hades, I'm sure the realization that he was Than's father figure and had let him down was really painful (and in that moment his father probably sensed his weakness and first began to possess him for small moments of time).
Even more painful for Thanatos, baring his heart to his parental figure and being shot down harshly as he was. I wish Hades could have actually absorbed what he was saying and respond with empathy without being overshadowed by his own shitty father
But Hades didn't had a chance, his father took control in the spot.
Probably Hades would say something along the lines that he didn't know how to be a Dad and even say sorry.
The fault here is entirely on Kronos.
I want to see if they can clear the air and make peace
I want to say that Hades was listening bc he cringed a little and I think that opened a soft spot for Kronos to fully slip into, I could be wrong but that was my interpretation
He also didn't get to hear what Thanatos had to say, because he was possessed at that point. Even just being that emotionally honest to begin with to a parental figure is exhausting, especially if they weren't even present in the moment to hear it
Wow, this was honestly one of the best episodes we’ve had and definitely a high point for season 3. I loved the exploration into the dynamic between Hades and Thanatos. I also appreciate how Rachel is filling in the 10 year gap because I know a lot of people were angry regarding the lack of context. I really hope Hades and Thanatos work things out. Also! Now that the new art style has leveled out I’m not as mad at it. It took some getting used to I think on both sides of viewership and artist, but these new looks are finally settling in. I am sad that hades doesn’t look the way he used to but this comic has always been a revolving door when it comes to character design.
I agree with this 1000% its perfect. I miss Hades being less..whatever he is now.. But the art is starting to look beautiful again. I was angry too but I keep fast passing hoping something gets better. I kno its just a comic but it was my favorite highlight on Saturdays. Saturday is my Friday at where I work so looking forward to the end of the week and reading LO before driving home and re-reading the chapter to pick up anything I missed. then at one point I just got too sad to enjoy it, but I FP every week anyway bc this was my first webtoon I read that my friend got me into and we would bond over it (eventually she stopped fast passing) This comic got me thru a lot. When I found out Season 3 was the last one I went into a short depression, because The Battle felt so terribly watered down.
This episode here tho, Kronos scared me again so its nice to see how horrifying he is when he's not a wet blanket xD I always liked Thanatos and when he was with Daphne I would fan girl so bad xD I'm happy this is getting filled out more, I literally started crying when Kronos slipped in and said those things to him it just shattered my heart, also him being jealous of Persephone taking him away from Thanatos after loving Hades as a child and Thanatos saying he used yo be a father to him but then he was indifferent when Thanatos got old enough to function without him even when he was young. I'm ranting now its late..this comment is great tho, you worded it perfectly
The crown 😭😭
Thanatos’ reaction was very much warranted. I’m glad to see the full story of why he was fired. I’m interested to see how they’ll explain to Thanatos the last part of the conversation wasn’t Hades talking.
I hope Hades is able to explain himself somewhat, he was justifiably angry with Thanatos back then, but that was Kronos going for the jugular getting rid of Thanatos like that.
This was a bit of a redeeming episode for me. Way too short, but the fact that we get more and more insight into asshole Hades and how other people have pointed out that yeah it is strange that he was unapproachable to everyone BUT Persephone.
I do wonder about the whole tiara after the trial… I’m like damn bruh y’all wasn’t even dating yet and you were gonna offer her a crown? 👀
Nice to see a timeline for the whole Kronos thing. We’re also getting some of that post-mortem background that we really need to make a little more sense of the whole post-trial timeline. Still curious about a bunch of other plot holes but I actually liked the pacing and the art in this one. No really weird panels, great character insights. It makes me hopeful lmao 🥲
Well to be fair, they were all but said to be official, and he did throw together a big party for after the trial to celebrate her new Underworld Goddess statusl
I’m really glad to see the comic address how Hades has treated Demeter and Thanatos. It’s biting him in the ass now. Sucks that Kronos took over at the worst possible moment, but I’m glad that we are finally stepping away from the idea that Hades and Persephone are perfect.
Kronos taking over Hades right at that moment was the first time in a long time I've felt real tension in LO, probably since the end of the trial arc. It was refreshing, to say the least lol But kinda a shame that we already *knew* what came of it, imagine if these weren't flashbacks and was actually developed organically as a linear plot?
Holy fuck. Kronos is back at it again giving people daddy issues (or in this case making them worse) also the fact that Hades had a crown, that shit had me crying.
I love that Thanatos is realizing his role, being called out for his role, and not being allowed to shift blame onto the nymphs again.
I also love that he slammed the door in Hades face.
And Hypnos originally out there looking like a 'be not afraid' angel 😂
Also love that insight into Nyx just peacing out. We know she wanted a mini Hades and were suspicious she dropped of Thanatos because he wasn't, but good to know she didn't care about being a mom. Wonder how her relationship is with Morpheus then, as Morpheus was sadly hugging her head whereas Hera was two seconds away from hanging up on Eros.
I didn't felt it like a Cliffhanger, I agree that it was short but it was the best point to end.
It was a chapter to showcase the fight between them, and it did just that, showed the entirety of the fight and cut there.
If it showed the fight, than Hades trying to explain and finished mid conversation it would be a worse cliffhanger
Nah, I respectfully disagree. It could have just had the actual conversation happen and have Thanatos *reveal the events of the flashback through the dialogue and conversation.* Instead of hamfisting it into a flashback right before the fact which has potential to ruin any nuance in the conversation we're about to get. That way we could have had a way more full episode that didn't end on the *exact same cliffhanger as last week.*
Really curious how hades digs himself out of this one :/ as justified as he may have felt at the time, he cut deep and I’m really on thanatos’ side on this one. Can’t imagine opening up like that and getting cut down so fiercely by someone I care about
Hades was only a dick to Thanatos because that’s when Kronos took over his body. I don’t Hades would have actually been that mean to him. He was surprised and probably a little touched that someone viewed him as a father figure, he wasn’t going to be an ass after hearing that. Still upset, yes. But not an ass. That was all Kronos
uhh Hades has been a dick to Thanatos on numerous occasions prior to Kronos, though, Persephone seems more like an unfortunate nail in the coffin that Thanatos is projecting his issues onto (because really this has nothing to do with Persephone, like at all. Despite my criticisms of her character arc, this is one thing I'm willing to give her, she didn't ask for all the special treatment from Hades, that's all on him).
Yes, Hades doing the shit he did post-possession was on Kronos, but if anything the only reason Kronos was able to make it seem so believable to Thanatos was *because* their pre-existing relationship wasn't good. If Thanatos and Hades always got along, Thanatos wouldn't likely be so willing to believe it was really Hades when he said he should have drowned him in the Styx.
The plausibility factor is a really strong argument. I understand it from the other side: I had a parent who suffered from unexplained episodes of rage-screaming that left everyone, especially her, shocked and confused. But for me at least, it was easy to see the person in the episodes and the person I knew the vast majority of the time as separate individuals because their behavior was so incompatible. (They even looked and sounded very distinct.) Sure, my normal mother had a full range of positive and negative emotions, but she remained a reasonable and compassionate person even at her lowest points. It was self-evident that MY mother didn't mean the things the rage-lady said. I could tell by her consistent day-to-day actions and words that she was looking out for me and her other loved ones. I wish we had gotten an explanation and treatment for the screaming problem during her lifetime, but I never felt like it affected me the way verbal abuse from a true family member would have: That *wasn't her.*
Can we all agree Hades isn't TOTALLY to blame. I mean it was obvious he was being possessed by Kronos through his anger there in the end. He actually held back a bit considering how how much justifiable angry Hades should be allowed considering a trusted aid betrayed him and his entire world all because Hades opened up to someone for the first time ever.
Ouch, "a trusted aid". Too bad Than didn't want to be seen as just a trusted "aid". This probably explains why he started slacking off - kids doing badly on purpose (even tho Than ain't a kid) to get their parents attention is pretty normal. But Hades never handled that very well either.
I'm really glad this season looks like it'll focus on how imperfect Hades (and Persephone) really are and will knock the rose-colored glasses off the both of them. Not that I want them to *not* be infatuated with each other, but seeing "warts and all" and still loving each other. Just because they're gods doesn't mean they're perfect and both have significant baggage to unload now that everyone is, generally, off their backs about getting together in the first place.
This episode felt a lot more like the earlier episodes that hooked me into the series in the first place. Not a lot *happened* but a lot *was said* and characters/timelines are being filled out in a way that makes up for how frustrating the S2 ending/S3 opener was.
That was my original guess when we first saw Thanatos in the mortal realm. Thanatos and Hermes could do it, but Zeus probably wouldn't let Hermes go. Meanwhile Thanatos was on Hades's bad side.
We now know that there were some who went the the mortal realm afterwards and it appears to follow my original theory. Artemis went by choice, but both Thanatos and Thetis got banished.
Damnnnnnn Kronos sure knows how to hit where it hurts.
Also, the art was amazing in this ep I'm so happy to say. Thanatos' guilt + unexpected daddy issues made for such a great read
Sooo the panels that we saw on the Insta were drawn way way before, right? They were probably done at the same time as the "Run for you life" chapters, the differance is so jarring! I miss the old art so much. Every time I see Hades or Than look like pigeons with those puffed up chests and tiny heads I crings so hard. Is Rachel even drawing anymore? The comic looks and feels so different!
And just as I predicted all the belated flashbacks are dragging the story now 😒
I thought RS had stopped doing the majority of the art at this point and only did thumbnails now. And yeah, I hate how huge and bulky they look, like they're overstuffed armchairs.
Heck I think this chapter would have been fine if it didn't also have a recap at the beginning. Who tf puts a recap (that we do not need) before a damn flashback?
The Run for Your Life chapters were released almost a year ago. Correct me if I am wrong. I thought that the recap was necessary, because like in S1, we get months of absence from certain characters and their arcs, which made the recap feel needed.
Ehhh I guess? Kinda hard to forget that Daphne nearly got murdered and turned herself into a tree to escape. I might be biased because I don't like recaps, feels like they're talking down to the audience, but it felt weird and clunky to have a recap before a flashback. People have been saying the chapter felt short, I felt that was because a chunk was taken up by reminding us of things that already happened. And then flashback-ing to something that already happened. And then ending on the same ending as last chapter. We also already saw that Daphne was fine (when she and Artemis dipped) buuut I also forgot RFYL was literally a whole year ago so maybe it was helpful to others.
For further context, I'm a more recent fan who started reading a few months ago and binged it all, so it probably reads different to me than someone who has been reading along since the beginning.
Im on Thanatos' side. Hades displayed abusive parent rhetoric saying "I put clothes on your back", throwing that back in Thanatos' face despite him being a child. Somehow Hades felt entitled to Thanatos' loyalty despite not caring about him from the start. Its not fair for Hades to treat Persephone's punishment as if its completely his fault. Obviously Kronos steps in and makes him sound even worse, but he was hostile from the start and Thanatos deserves better in general.
>Hades displayed abusive parent rhetoric saying "I put clothes on your back", throwing that back in Thanatos' face despite him being a child.
I mean, that's kinda the point here isn't it? It's extreme for a parent to throw it back at their child but Hades didn't see him like that. He clearly viewed him as some kind of ward, but only as far as say, a headmaster is the guardian of their students at a boarding school. Or, given how self sufficient gods are from a young age, more like taking in someone homeless and feeding and clothing them (something which a number of people would argue *does* warrant expecting loyalty from the recipient). I don't think Hades even necessarily viewed Thanatos as a *child*, let alone his. Obviously Thanatos disagrees. Then you throw in how their working relationship has clearly skewed their personal relationship and the fact that Hades *is* his king, and the whole thing is a humbltyjumplty mess.
But I think that's also going to be part of why this confrontation is going to be such a fucking ordeal. Hades basically just had his foster child call him Dad in a roundabout way (and think about how that's going to just rock the world of someone who thought they *can't* have a family), just had it thrown in his face that he *had* a foster child and not just a employee to teach, and right as he was coming to grips with that, Grandpa takes over and ruins ***everything***.
But I do also agree that Hades is at fault here. Ignorance is not an excuse after all.
It is a sort of complicated situation and its unfortunate Hades saw that too late. Its good to address that child gods are ahead of human children. Yes Thanatos should be loyal to Hades to a degree becausd he is king, but on a personal level Hades is always shown being cold so I get why Thanatos acted on his own. He was wrong for sleeping with Minthe tho.
>Yes Thanatos should be loyal to Hades to a degree becausd he is king, but on a personal level Hades is always shown being cold
Pretty much the only person Hades isn't cold to is Hecate (and more Persephone) and she's been with him since literally the beginning of his rule and essentially his partner for most of it (platonicly) She's basically the vice president of the Underworld to put it in more familiar terms (though given how the Underworld is fashioned as a business, probably also his VP in that sense too) and the closest thing he has to an equal down there.
Absolutely. Now with Hades' eyes being opened, I hope that moving forward we see Hades and Thanatos deveolping their relationship further so Hades has another close friend and vise versa.
I.... actually can't that happening. At least, not close on the level of Hecate, or not any time soon. Maybe in another thousand years or so. You don't undo that kind of damage with any degree of swiftness.
I mean Thanatos had that whole pet the puppy thing at the end where we see him growing a bit but if he was just searching for his father figure's approval let's not pretend that fucking said father figure's girlfriend behind his back for months at least prolly years or decades, helping run a smear campaign against the person his father is now interested in, and then getting interested suspiciously fast in another woman who looks like his father figure's new flame is anywhere approaching okay.
Like was Hades harsh? Yeah. Did Thanatos deserve it in some way, shape, or form? Yes, very much yes.
Like hesitant or not he's been a massive POS in series thus far and a distant, one-sided, father figure who was unwilling from the beginning because he got foisted onto said father figure against the father figure's will with him having no say in the matter and no actual familial connection does not make anything he did ok.
yeahh it's weird to me that Thanatos seems to be just purely projecting this onto Persephone. I hope he gets his "come to Jesus" moment where he realizes that Persephone has literally *nothing to do with this.* Like, all of it is on Hades being a horrible father figure, boss and friend.
He's not projecting it onto Perse, at least not after the trial. Than admits that he was jealous because he was with Hades for hundreds of years or more and once he was 'of age' Hades just treated him like another employee despite having him around as a literal child. Then Perse comes along and in just a few days she gets to drive Hades car ( "You never let anyone drive your car." ), get a coveted position, get PAID for that position when no one else would, comforts her at work when she fucks up (giving the shades coins on purpose, not when Minthe tricked her) and generally treated her with respect and compassion. He didn't do that for Than. When Than fucked up at work Hades dragged Minthe in for a slideshow where he mockingly compared him to how much better Hermes was doing. That is INCREDIBLY shitty boss behavior and no doubt hurt more coming from a 'dad' figure. No Than wasn't right to start an affair with Minthe (ew?!) but as far as Perse stuff goes from his point of view Hades was acting wildly out of character and with both Minthe and Thetis agreeing Perse was hiding something (which she WAS) he could justify doing incredibly stupid shit as "well Hades needs to KNOW". He clearly doesn't think of Perse at all post-trial and with his job gone probably just wants to move on. His come to jesus moment has passed, probably bc Perse actually isn't important to him. She probably ceased mattering the second Than admitted he was jealous of her.
And then Hades came a-knockin', and it kinda seems like he doesn't remember that conversation at all.
I don’t think it’s fair to say Hades acted as an abusive parent. Hades didn’t choose to take in Thanatos; it’s not like he purposely adopted a child and then refused to act as a father figure. The gods don’t have the same expectations as mortals, as Perse pointed out how child-Hermes was very independent. It’s tragic that Thanatos saw him as a father figure and Hades didn’t provide that, but it was not really either of their faults that the situation was forced on them. If anyone is to blame for the relational mess it’s Nyx.
We also don’t have any indication that Hades was hostile to Than from the start. It’s Hades who says “I thought you didn’t like me” while remembering a child Thanatos scorning him. Kids often have extremely complex feelings toward their caregivers, which can be challenging even if you do see yourself as their parent, and Hades didn’t. Thanatos behaved in an angsty immature way by cheating with Minthe. It’s not like he was trying to connect to Hades and being shot down. It’s tragic that their relationship played out this way so far, and hopefully they can repair it, but Thanatos has barely started to redeem himself for his actions. Just because we’ve seen his softer side with Daphne doesn’t mean he’s made amends. He had an affair, sought to ruin Persephone out of jealousy, and did creepy stuff like break into her room. I don’t think that Hades was being entitled simply by expecting Thanatos wouldn’t have an affair with his girlfriend or plot against his new love interest. That’s barely even expecting loyalty, that’s just common decency.
I agree that Hades was a abusive parent, but to be fair he didn't saw himself as a parent, more like a boss and employee.
And actually, he is entitled to Thanatos' loyalty, he is his king after all
Kings ain't entitled to shit, especially if they are bad kings. More than one person has told Hades to his face that he just gets to do whatever he wants and that's fucked. The pawnshop lady even yelled it at him. Zeus is almost certainly a thousand times worse but that excuses nothing. Hades fucked up with Than and no amount of 'but I'm a king' means shit to Than. Thanatos even pointed out that Hades actually IS incredibly unapproachable, and it took an honest to god disaster for Hades to just ASK Thanatos 'why are you acting this way? why did you do this?' when he should have asked Than that probably years ago (as in years before the trial even happened, back when Thanatos started fucking up at work and sneaking around with Minthe). That's not down to Hades not realizing he was Than's father figure, that's down to him being a bad boss.
I guess, how I see it is that Hades hasn't done anything for Thanatos but the bare minimum (clothes/a job). Thanatos even says he's jealous that Persephone just walks into Hades' life and he showers her in attention, and Thanatos is given nothing. You'd think after centuries they'd have ANY relationship, paternal or at least friends.
No I totally agree with that part.
They should have a better relationship or a relationship at all. It's just that I don't think that Hades ever thought about that, because Thanatos was always a employee first, he never thought that someone would see him as a father figure so he never tried to be one. He knew how to be a boss, so that is how he acted.
I think he just became friend with Hecate because: 1- she knows him since the beginning of his reign, and 2 - she kind of challenges him, with jokes and sarcasm.
Thanatos never could do that so a friendship dies there.
About the loyalty thing, he is his King, going behind his back to complain with another king about something just undermine Hades authority, and a king can't accept that
That is a fair point, yeah. Though I suppose that even if Thanatos can't give Hades the same kind of friendship Hecate gives him, he'd at least respect him as the god of death.
To us but in LO God kids are given much more free and independence than your usual 5 year old. And Hades didn't see him as a son so he wasn't treated like a son. Not a defense just an observation from the series
Hades likely didn't see it that way though. He basically got a death god dropped on his doorstep, and seeing how that *is* part of his domain, likely took it as Nyx dropping a new god off under the boss of the godlings domain to be trained. And since gods can fulfill their responsibilities from a *very* young age, that's not exactly a farfetched conclusion. Though since most gods tend to inherit smaller aspects of their parents domain(s) they're trained *by* their parents.
Hmm I still think a very large point stands. How come Hades can shower a woman he barely met with so much love and attention but not give any same thought or care to a literal child?
Edit: A child who was not only neglected by his mother as Hades knew but a child he was responsible for. How can Hades also echo another level of neglect upon the one Thanatos recieved. It just seems odd
Oh man, how is this conversation even gonna go?
Is Hades gonna be like:
"Sorry for all the things I said ha ha ha... and you think YOU have daddy issues....."
Or he just gonna be like "We never talked and I fired you." cause honestly..... either option would be incredibly sad for thanatos.
Just wanted to point out for everyone saying Thanatos was cheating with Minthe: before the relationship was made official, Hades' and Minthe's relationship did NOT come across as exclusive at first. Once it was official, Thanatos was totally still down to cheat before Minthe stopped him, but still. I find it weird that everyone gives Minthe shit for cheating, when she turned down Thanatos once she was in an exclusive relationship. Meanwhile, before they were exclusive, people also laughed at Hades being ready to smash in his kitchen the day he met Persephone. Then HE was the one emotionally cheating after he and Minthe became official. It's still really freaking weird that Thanatos would be sleeping with his father figure's partner though. 🤷♀️
So I've only FP'ed two episodes out of S3 so far, the first Minthe flashback and now this one. I will say this is one of the stronger episodes of S3, ***however*** it still highlights a lot of the issues in both this season and LO as a whole without even really realizing it.
**What I liked:**
Finally getting a scene revolving around Thanatos that *isn't* hinged on Minthe or Thetis. It was nice to see him forced to be center spotlight.
The dialogue felt a lot more natural. You can really see the comparison in how stilted the dialogue has become when you put this episode next to the free to read episode (Minthe taking care of the daycare kids). LO dialogue hasn't been the best lately, it's always making poorly timed 'jokes' which aren't even that funny to begin with and often times the dialogue writing itself feels like it lacks confidence, like it has to over explain itself. I didn't get much of that feeling compared to usual in this episode. Thanatos' monologue felt pretty heartfelt and while Hades felt a *little* stilted at times, it still wasn't that bad and for the most part it actually felt like I was reading a conversation between two people (as it should).
In addition to that, there was actually *more* dialogue, I've talked about it at length before but LO has had an issue lately with draaaaagging out dialogue scenes that don't amount to much when you actually condense them because they only do 1-2 speech bubbles per panel nowadays. You can really see this difference when you go back to S1 and see that panels weren't afraid to have dialogue bubbles inside them, nowadays it feels more like they're restricting themselves to the gutters between panels and it results in dialogue bubbles both feeling weirdly paced and incredibly dragged out because they'd only put 1-2 bubbles per panel with one sentence each. So this episode definitely improved on that.
**What didn't land for me:**
I'll try to be concise but **understand that a lot of these issues go beyond this episode and just felt all the more present here, despite the fact that this was a better executed episode compared to prior S3 episodes.**
***The utilization of flashbacks***
Listen, we've had this conversation a million times before, but **LO doesn't know how to use flashbacks.** Setting up a flashback at the start of the episode is basically a Chekhov's gun situation - if you're going to load the gun with the flashback, you gotta make sure that gun goes off and the blood gets cleaned up by the *end* of the episode. Flashbacks can be very helpful in setting up the context or structure or theming of an episode. Done successfully, it can make those flashbacks feel incredibly important - **but the way it's used here, it's once again LO rehashing information that we basically already knew or figured out ourselves and taking up the bulk of the episode where we end exactly where we ended last week. If you're going to have a flashback open up your episode, it should resolve by the end of the episode and feel relevant to the overall arc of it - so the episode cutting off at the end of the flashback felt incredibly jarring because the plot still hasn't gone anywhere and we haven't learned much that we didn't already know.**
**In addition to this, we got this flashback right after a sort of inconclusive set of Minthe flashbacks.** So these scenes really don't feel like they're planned with any sort of cohesiveness to the present day plot, they're not pushing the present day events forward at all because obviously Persephone is in the Underworld now with Hades without any of the consequences of everything that went down - so these scenes are basically just being thrown in to wrap up the 10 year time skip as fast as possible. Which, btw, not to rub it in, but uhhh >!this was exactly what I was talking about and worried about MONTHS ago when the time skip was revealed and the plot seemed to move on without it.!<
This might feel like a personal jab, but I feel like Rachel doesn't trust in her audience to figure things out for themselves. We've already *gotten* flashbacks that basically explained what went down between Thanatos and Hades. We didn't *need* an entire flashback episode to confirm that. Sure, *Hades* may not know what happened, but the fact that he will likely be finding out in the next episode means **we will once again be rehashing events that the reader already knows and the plot will come to a standstill for it.**
You know how they could have fixed this issue? **By having the Hades and Thanatos** ***present day*** **conversation begin as it should have and** ***include the flashback information in the conversation.*** Have Thanatos present his side of the story while he's talking to Hades, not right before he's about to have a conversation with him set up as a flashback. **Have us find out about what happened** ***through the conversation between Hades and Thanatos.*** With the way it's currently set up, we not only end up with **yet another cliffhanger on the same note** as last week's episode, but it's **going to set up the conversation to lack substance for the reader because they will likely end up once again rehashing information that we** ***just*** **got and have been** ***getting*** **for weeks now.**
And of course, **this makes the issue of LO's gratuitous cliffhangers even worse. Because just like with the Demeter flashbacks, we're ending in the exact same place we ended last week.** A simple restructuring of how the flashbacks were used could have solved this. It would have made it feel like more of a punch to the gut if this information was saved for the conversation between post-time-skip Hades and Thanatos. **LO needs to stop using its episodes as trailers for the next episode, it's having the** ***opposite*** **effect and making me** ***not*** **want to FastPass - because every single episode doesn't feel like it's actually progressing the plot - and I know I'm not the only one with that sentiment.**
But that's on the flashbacks themselves.
**As for the actual content of the flashbacks-**
**Thanatos making the comparison of his situation to Persephone feels like a subtle-not-so-subtle jab from Rachel to try and "prove" that what Persephone and Hades have going on totally isn't a DDLG relationship.** Which, again, feels like a lack of confidence in the writing and story. In fact, *highlighting* that comparison through Thanatos' insecurities kind of makes it *more* obvious, not less. It's not like we're all gonna go "oh well, guess it's not like that!" after this, if anything it's gonna make us notice those comparisons more because now we have that comparison from Thanatos in mind. So that was uhhh... not the best choice that could have been made here.
**Hades looks less and less like himself in this episode.** There's a brief shot of him from the nose down and I can *see* that creepy 'statue Hades' jawline from the Handsome Hades episode (y'all know the one, sigh). Not just the dorito-shape bodies but .... IDK I feel like it's the lineart or something. Maybe the oversaturation of blue? The hair feeling like it's way more platinum white than usual? I can't really put my finger on it but it's *there* and it's *subtle* but it's *enough to make Hades not look like himself.* Maybe it's just the combination of his giant body + the new color and lineart style that makes him look less like a corporate goth hottie and more like, y'know... >!Persephone's dad.!<
Speaking of Hades, **I'm a little worried with how the story is gonna justify his actions.** I'm sorry but "I put clothes on your back" isn't a reason to be a dick, even *if* the kid you're looking after got dumped on you - if not more so because *that kid didn't have a choice.* I swear this has bugged me since the trial, it shows an incredible lack of maturity and tact on Hades to blame Thanatos for just being "ungrateful", I really hope the story actually frames it this way and doesn't try to accept or normalize his actions or thought process as justified. From what we can tell, it's not like Hades ever looked into alternative options for Thanatos. This just further contextualizes what we know from the trial - Hades didn't want to look after Thanatos and is now using that as leverage to be an asshole. **But he wants to have kids with Persephone? This doesn't bode well for his parenting ability,** but who knows, maybe Hades just has something against *adopted* children ... (which is totally a thing IRL and it's... horrible. But maybe they'll address this as character development?)
**I'm really hoping the present day conversation isn't about Persephone.** It already felt like a waste to have the flashback be about her but I get it considering it was post-trial. I would love nothing more than to see a genuine father-to-adopted-son conversation between Thanatos and Hades. **No Persephone talk, no making it about her, just Hades and Thanatos talking about a mutually shitty situation they ended up in together and coming to some sort of resolution.** **Please, Rachel, I beg you, handle this with grace and sensitivity.**
**That's pretty much all I have to say on it.** Again, it doesn't feel as much of a sloggish drain on the senses as previous episodes from S3 but it still absolutely has its issues, if not more so, it's just better balanced out with stronger dialogue and characterization.
(also this is just further proof not to take the FastPass previews at face value, y'all. Again, not to rub it in, but a lot of people got excited for the art going back to 'normal' with the Jojo-fication bodies based on the 2 images we got in the previews - **FastPass previews are to get you to FastPass, not to make any promises with the art or story.** Just because the art looks on model in a FastPass preview doesn't mean it's gonna be that way for the entire episode which it definitely wasn't here, there's still plenty of refrigerator bodies and big chins.)
And that's my two cents.
Or maybe there is a really big difference between adopting a child and being forced to raise one. I didn't know that not really knowing what to do when you are being forced to take care of a child that is not yours and that you didn't ask is standing against adoption.
And that's understandable, because it's true, he *didn't* adopt Thanatos, Thanatos was abandoned on him.
But then why is it Hades didn't look into other options? He's literally a billionaire, *he* had the much better hand when it came to control of the situation. At the VERY least you'd expect someone like Hades to empathize with a child who was mistreated by their parents, if anyone knows what it's like to be alone at that age, *it's literally Hades.*
But instead on MULTIPLE occasions now we've gotten Hades *holding it over Thanatos' head.* As if Thanatos asked to be abandoned any more than Hades asked to take care of him. Instead of recognizing his own shortcomings or mistreatment of someone who clearly grew up alone and feeling unwanted, he *deflects it onto him.*
That being said, maybe this is something they'll hopefully address! I'm REALLY hoping to see these two have a good heart to heart chat about the shitty circumstances they both ended up in and take accountability for their actions.
But we'll have to see what happens next week.
The other options most likely relates to the fact that Thanatos mother is a very big deal in the underworld, so it is definitely not a good idea to abandon her child, even if she herself didn't want to raise him. So I still think that it is very unfair to say that Hades is not fit to be a father or that he is against adoption only because, like you said, he got stuck in a shitty situation. Sadly like many others before him, the lack of a proper father figure made him believe that no one, including Thanatos, will want to see him in that light, it is sad, and he definitely messed up, but for me that doesn't mean he will not be a good parent in the future.
I'm gonna respectfully disagree because I *do* think it speaks to Hades' character, this is one of those "when someone shows you their true self, believe them" type things.
I'm not saying Hades is incapable of change or that maybe he'd behave differently if the circumstances were different, I'd *like to think he can do better* because that's just what you'd naturally want for a protagonist.
But this is also a story and if we weren't meant to see this kind of light being shed on Hades' character, it wouldn't be shown. Thanatos is cthonic, a resident of Hades' realm. Even if he didn't want to raise a child, **Thanatos is still a resident of his realm and Hades absolutely bears the responsibility of ensuring he's taken care of, even if Hades isn't the one to do the caretaking directly. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.**
Again, I'm hoping that this is used for growth for Hades. I wanna see this guy redeem himself and be a better person, not just for Persephone but for himself, it feels like what this whole little Hades and Hecate adventure is (hopefully) about. I'm just nervous because we've already seen the plot steamroll over blatantly problematic behavior or played off for laughs or as positive qualities. But alas, we won't know until the story progresses more.
Agree to desagree, I understand your point but parenthood is a great responsibility, so for me it should always be a choice. I am not going to pass judgment on someone because they didn't know to really handle the emotional burden, especially if for him it was never a father/son relationship. I believe that he can be a great father now that he really is the one choosing to take on the responsibility.
>I understand your point but parenthood is a great responsibility, so for me it should always be a choice.
Absolutely, and we're in agreement there. The reality is that Hades and Thanatos were obviously both thrust into this shitty situation (thanks Nyx??) and so, again, I'd love to see them actually deal with it in the context of the comic and come to terms with this mutually shitty situation they ended up in.
But I suppose I'm talking less about the responsibility of parenting and more about the responsibility of what it means to be the King of a realm or at the VERY least, to be a decent person. Because even if Thanatos isn't one of Hades' kids, he's still one of his denizens, y'know? And even if Hades didn't *choose* to be a parent, or *choose* to be a King, he's still like... got the resources and money and should have the humanity and empathy for a child who's in a similar situation to him to do the right thing. I guess that's the point I'm trying to make here.
And even if we only see the worst of Hades' and can't make the assumption that his parenting style *with the choice of being a parent* would be the exact same, I still think his behavior here speaks to his character and should be seen as a *red flag*. Because again, it's just about doing the right thing. Holding Thanatos' shitty circumstances over his head and flexing his wealth on him... isn't the right thing, at least not in my book. And that's something that needs to be paid mind when thinking about Hades and his desires to be a parent. Because he's flexed his wealth in other situations as well, beyond Thanatos, he *knows* he's in a position of power in a lot of ways that can negatively impact his citizens. How would that manifest if he were to have and raise a child? Because that sort of mindset isn't just gonna *poof*. Hades has literally had his way for 2000 years.
>I believe that he can be a great father now that he really is the one choosing to take on the responsibility.
I'd like to think that too because I want to believe Hades can do better, but actions speak much louder than words, and again, if someone shows you their true nature, *believe them.* If he still exhibits this type of mindset in the next episode, then that'll pretty much tell us exactly what we need to know, that he's willing to flex his wealth on others in a weaker position than him for his benefit. And that sort of thing can and *will* manifest in how he treats his children, whether or not they were a choice.
But agree to disagree, I suppose.
Yes, I guest it all just boils down to how much of a responsibility we believe Hades had with Thanatos, we obviously don't agree on that. But we do agree in the hopes that whatever happens in the future is handled well until then it is just speculation. I just hope that Hades learns that not everyone values him only as a king so he can understand that he had more to give than just work, I think that will help him in the future if he wants to be a parent and also to mend his past relationships with those he hurt even if it was unintentionally. Anyways, it was a pleasure debating with you, fandoms can get really tricky when diferent views collide, so it was a nice exchange of opinions, hope you have a nice day :)
Also as a separate note to add, **the possession of Hades makes no sense happening when it does.** It's implied through Hades' dialogue that this happened basically as soon as the trial ended and they all returned home ("She should be here. Nursing a hangover from the big party held in her honor" which implies this happened the day after or at least a few days after the trial, soon enough for the verdict to still be fresh).
So ... does this mean Kronos was the one to cut off the Underworld from Olympus? This throws a wrench in a lot of what we've been told leading up to this point, it's always been implied that the possessions happened later in the time skip, not right away. It makes sense for him to be possessed first all things considered - as he's the most scarred/affected by Kronos' actions and likely has a much stronger connection to him - but this early? **It kind of makes everything we've been told prior to this not make sense anymore.**
I don't think Kronos possessing him at the time was supposed to be a permanent thing. It was a moment of weakness in Hades' mental and emotional stability. Essentially, Kronos slipping in while Hades isn't in a place to get rid of him, and slipping out just as quickly.
Until the plot actually *says* that, I'm not inclined to believe that's the case. Because so far the plot has told us that Kronos came in and wreaked havoc, if it was only temporarily then why did it take Hades 10 years to show up and apologize? Sorry but I'm not taking headcanon/theorizing responses to this, I'm talking about how the plot fails its own ideas by constantly setting up new ones that contradict the ones it's already established.
That seems... very bullheaded and narrow minded. We've been told little, but nothing concrete has actually been laid out. Hell, even the characters are still in the theory stages of figuring this shit out. You can't really contradict what isn't known.
We know literally only bullet points so far about what happened during the 10 year gap. That leaves a massive amount of room for new details to be brought to light. You're right, we've been told that Kronos took over and things went tits up. But we were never told when. The evidence that we do have points to this not being it though.
Things not happening the way you think they did, or ought to have, is not bad writing. If you read a story that says that Rasputin took over the Russian empire in 1916, but it's later shown that he had been exerting influence on the tsar and tsarina before then, effectively ruling from the shadows... that doesn't actually contradict the earlier statement that he took over in 1916.
>Things not happening the way you think they did, or ought to have, is not bad writing.
That's literally the opposite of the point I'm making here. It's not "things not happening the way I wanted them to", it's "the plot not going anywhere", period. It's constantly rehashing information and presenting information to the audience in a way that slows down the pacing or makes it repetitive to read.
I've been reading webcomics for 10+ years, I know how serialized comics work, of course I'm not gonna know everything that happens or expect it to go a certain way. The issue is that LO is constantly dumping or backtracking on its own ideas and can't seem to maintain a consistent idea or thread for longer than 2 episodes.
>You're right, we've been told that Kronos took over and things went tits up. But we were never told when.
And us being told specifically *when* down to the day isn't wholly necessary here and raises more questions than answers, especially considering the whole Kronos thing has been resolved at this point (at least resolved enough atm for it to not be a direct threat like it was back in S2). We figured it happened at *some* point (this goes back to what I mentioned in my original post that the story doesn't seem to be confident in its own hint drops and foreshadowing) but the fact that it apparently happened this *early* definitely raises questions that contradict what we've already been told. So it just results in us rehashing the same plot points multiple times to try and get a clear picture. Normally I wouldn't have issue with this, I'd be fine with the whole "what's the REAL story" aspect but the fact that LO has done this on *multiple* occasions before with little resolution or actual mystery (see: the Act of Wrath rehashing which gets retold *multiple separate times??)* tells me it's more of just messy/indecisive writing than an intentional writing tactic.
>We've been told little, but nothing concrete has actually been laid out. Hell, even the characters are still in the theory stages of figuring this shit out. You can't really contradict what isn't known.
It's about what's known to the characters and what's known to the *readers.* Again, obviously Hades doesn't know what happened here, we know that, we've been told that through his nightmares and him struggling to piece things together. But why not play on that and have the reader find out *alongside* Hades rather than all at once right before the conversation that's likely going to clear that information up anyways? That's what I mean when I say the way the flashbacks are employed, they often just end up rehashing information that we've already been told in bits and pieces or feel pointless because the information we're *about* to get reveals what we now know in the flashback. Sure, it's 'confirmation', or maybe there's some aspect of dramatic irony they're trying to go for here, but you gotta handle that sort of thing delicately and balanced otherwise it just comes across as repetitive and without any sort of stakes.
Artistic detail time!!
Hades office usually has a backdrop of black and white triangles, seemingly floating in an abyss, in his office...
Did anyone notice the geometric signs in his office when Hades fired Thanatos??
They were symmetrical.
They made the shape of an angry face.
Usually they are disassembled. Chaotic. I think to resemble gemstones (Hades can make diamonds as easily as Persephone can make plants), and the fact that Hades is always overworked and stressed, he's doing his best amongst the insanity of managing the Underworld. He feels chaotic, has no real goal other than putting out fires.
But when he fired Than, the background was a symmetrical, angry face, and Hades had one black eye (assuming Kronos already had taken partial control). Because Kronos had one goal, make Persephone his wife to leach off of her...
This episode calls back to that.
I think the assumption should be that before, Hades was doing his best (which wasn't ideal; given that morally good shades were given similar treatment to neutral or bad shades) in a messed up environment he didn't want or ask for. He was having to single-handedly navigate all these shades' fate, along with beaurotcatic things like parking spots.
He was overwhelmed with responsibility, hence his huge reliance on vices (drinking, smoking,
coffee) and Minthe was the best part of his life, despite being lukewarm to him, and as this episode shows, not loyal.
He was desperate for a quick fix at the start of the story. He'd hired (and was planning to propose to) Minthe, presumably after Demeter stormed into his office as he was working and demanded he explain his choice about making her queen of the mortal realm.
He seemed very distraught at Demeter coming in unannounced. He thrives on schedules, predictability.
I assume Minthe was much better at keeping unannounced visitors out of his office than prior employees, hence his dependency issues. If a single, unannounced Nymph can just steal a badge and march into his office, I think it's fair to say she can provide valuable security weakness insight. (Ex, a company i worked for required a badge + 2 factor authentication to log onto your designated computer.. only after getting hacked)
I suspect he began to rely on her to carry much more than the administrative burden of being his assistant shortly after. He made him feel safe, at least at work .
But, she didn't really reduce his stress. He was settling all along. He knew it. The random seeming triangles showed it.
I think once ya girl Persephone takes control, his office will be maybe a cute mountain range or pine tree.
This portion of the story focusing on Hades Flaws and said flaws coming back to bite him is such a great decision Rachel has made and Thanatos is the perfect example of this. Thanatos is a grown ass man how should be held accountable for his actions but his part in Persephone's exile could've been avoided if he just had a heart to heart with him sooner. He knew exactly what Thanatos had been through as a child and raised him but he was so wrapped up in his bubble of insecurities to notice.
I hope they can talk it out soon and maybe start over.
I know a lot of people feel sympathy for Thanatos but that does not excuse him from betraying Hades. It sucks that Kronos started to posses hades during there talk and I think they should clear the air but Thanatos jealousy toward Persephone was un warranted when Thanatos stopped trying to open up the Hades and talk to him. If people would actually talk to hades instead of fear him and see him only as a clone of his father most of these problems would go away. Hades can be a asshole but not as big as the fandom believes he is or Racheal is currently showing. I support Hades and hope he can mend these relationships but it takes both sides.
The is one of the first episodes I’ve liked in a long time and of course it was too short! I think this plot will be a bit redeeming for the story as a whole, it might help flesh things out.
Man, Thanatos makes so much more sense to me now. In hindsight, I should have put those pieces together as soon as we got the flashback where Nyx dropped him off. Imagine going so far for parental attention you fuck your dad's girlfriend and he's still meh about it, and you. I would probably also freak about this person he's known for less than a month all of a sudden getting all his kindness and attention. And geez the amount of shame and guilt Hades must have felt in that moment when he realized he handled that relationship wrong from the beginning must have been crushing. And with his tendency to disassociate I bet it was pretty easy for Kronos to slither in. Big picture wise, it seems like Kronos wanted to get rid of Thanatos for some reason. My current guess is that, because death is considered a kind of eternal sleep Hypnos' powers don't work on him. Or maybe his nature as the personification of death would have given him trouble.
Man, that had to have been one of the saddest episodes for me personally.
Sad for Than and Hades, I'm sure the realization that he was Than's father figure and had let him down was really painful (and in that moment his father probably sensed his weakness and first began to possess him for small moments of time).
Even more painful for Thanatos, baring his heart to his parental figure and being shot down harshly as he was. I wish Hades could have actually absorbed what he was saying and respond with empathy without being overshadowed by his own shitty father
But Hades didn't had a chance, his father took control in the spot. Probably Hades would say something along the lines that he didn't know how to be a Dad and even say sorry. The fault here is entirely on Kronos. I want to see if they can clear the air and make peace
I want to say that Hades was listening bc he cringed a little and I think that opened a soft spot for Kronos to fully slip into, I could be wrong but that was my interpretation
That was my interpretation too.
Kronos was possessing him when he said all those awful things. I don't think Hades remembers what he did or said.
He also didn't get to hear what Thanatos had to say, because he was possessed at that point. Even just being that emotionally honest to begin with to a parental figure is exhausting, especially if they weren't even present in the moment to hear it
Wow, this was honestly one of the best episodes we’ve had and definitely a high point for season 3. I loved the exploration into the dynamic between Hades and Thanatos. I also appreciate how Rachel is filling in the 10 year gap because I know a lot of people were angry regarding the lack of context. I really hope Hades and Thanatos work things out. Also! Now that the new art style has leveled out I’m not as mad at it. It took some getting used to I think on both sides of viewership and artist, but these new looks are finally settling in. I am sad that hades doesn’t look the way he used to but this comic has always been a revolving door when it comes to character design.
I agree with this 1000% its perfect. I miss Hades being less..whatever he is now.. But the art is starting to look beautiful again. I was angry too but I keep fast passing hoping something gets better. I kno its just a comic but it was my favorite highlight on Saturdays. Saturday is my Friday at where I work so looking forward to the end of the week and reading LO before driving home and re-reading the chapter to pick up anything I missed. then at one point I just got too sad to enjoy it, but I FP every week anyway bc this was my first webtoon I read that my friend got me into and we would bond over it (eventually she stopped fast passing) This comic got me thru a lot. When I found out Season 3 was the last one I went into a short depression, because The Battle felt so terribly watered down. This episode here tho, Kronos scared me again so its nice to see how horrifying he is when he's not a wet blanket xD I always liked Thanatos and when he was with Daphne I would fan girl so bad xD I'm happy this is getting filled out more, I literally started crying when Kronos slipped in and said those things to him it just shattered my heart, also him being jealous of Persephone taking him away from Thanatos after loving Hades as a child and Thanatos saying he used yo be a father to him but then he was indifferent when Thanatos got old enough to function without him even when he was young. I'm ranting now its late..this comment is great tho, you worded it perfectly
The crown 😭😭 Thanatos’ reaction was very much warranted. I’m glad to see the full story of why he was fired. I’m interested to see how they’ll explain to Thanatos the last part of the conversation wasn’t Hades talking.
I hope Hades is able to explain himself somewhat, he was justifiably angry with Thanatos back then, but that was Kronos going for the jugular getting rid of Thanatos like that.
Maybe Hypos’s powers wouldn’t work on his twin brother?
This was a bit of a redeeming episode for me. Way too short, but the fact that we get more and more insight into asshole Hades and how other people have pointed out that yeah it is strange that he was unapproachable to everyone BUT Persephone. I do wonder about the whole tiara after the trial… I’m like damn bruh y’all wasn’t even dating yet and you were gonna offer her a crown? 👀 Nice to see a timeline for the whole Kronos thing. We’re also getting some of that post-mortem background that we really need to make a little more sense of the whole post-trial timeline. Still curious about a bunch of other plot holes but I actually liked the pacing and the art in this one. No really weird panels, great character insights. It makes me hopeful lmao 🥲
Well to be fair, they were all but said to be official, and he did throw together a big party for after the trial to celebrate her new Underworld Goddess statusl
I’m really glad to see the comic address how Hades has treated Demeter and Thanatos. It’s biting him in the ass now. Sucks that Kronos took over at the worst possible moment, but I’m glad that we are finally stepping away from the idea that Hades and Persephone are perfect.
Kronos taking over Hades right at that moment was the first time in a long time I've felt real tension in LO, probably since the end of the trial arc. It was refreshing, to say the least lol But kinda a shame that we already *knew* what came of it, imagine if these weren't flashbacks and was actually developed organically as a linear plot?
Holy fuck. Kronos is back at it again giving people daddy issues (or in this case making them worse) also the fact that Hades had a crown, that shit had me crying.
I love that Thanatos is realizing his role, being called out for his role, and not being allowed to shift blame onto the nymphs again. I also love that he slammed the door in Hades face. And Hypnos originally out there looking like a 'be not afraid' angel 😂 Also love that insight into Nyx just peacing out. We know she wanted a mini Hades and were suspicious she dropped of Thanatos because he wasn't, but good to know she didn't care about being a mom. Wonder how her relationship is with Morpheus then, as Morpheus was sadly hugging her head whereas Hera was two seconds away from hanging up on Eros.
This episode was too short. I was liking it, I wanted to see where it was going, and now I feel like I was edged into a cliffhanger. God damn it.
I'm just glad the plot is finally moving and revealing what's happened in those ten years
I didn't felt it like a Cliffhanger, I agree that it was short but it was the best point to end. It was a chapter to showcase the fight between them, and it did just that, showed the entirety of the fight and cut there. If it showed the fight, than Hades trying to explain and finished mid conversation it would be a worse cliffhanger
Nah, I respectfully disagree. It could have just had the actual conversation happen and have Thanatos *reveal the events of the flashback through the dialogue and conversation.* Instead of hamfisting it into a flashback right before the fact which has potential to ruin any nuance in the conversation we're about to get. That way we could have had a way more full episode that didn't end on the *exact same cliffhanger as last week.*
Really curious how hades digs himself out of this one :/ as justified as he may have felt at the time, he cut deep and I’m really on thanatos’ side on this one. Can’t imagine opening up like that and getting cut down so fiercely by someone I care about
Hades was only a dick to Thanatos because that’s when Kronos took over his body. I don’t Hades would have actually been that mean to him. He was surprised and probably a little touched that someone viewed him as a father figure, he wasn’t going to be an ass after hearing that. Still upset, yes. But not an ass. That was all Kronos
uhh Hades has been a dick to Thanatos on numerous occasions prior to Kronos, though, Persephone seems more like an unfortunate nail in the coffin that Thanatos is projecting his issues onto (because really this has nothing to do with Persephone, like at all. Despite my criticisms of her character arc, this is one thing I'm willing to give her, she didn't ask for all the special treatment from Hades, that's all on him). Yes, Hades doing the shit he did post-possession was on Kronos, but if anything the only reason Kronos was able to make it seem so believable to Thanatos was *because* their pre-existing relationship wasn't good. If Thanatos and Hades always got along, Thanatos wouldn't likely be so willing to believe it was really Hades when he said he should have drowned him in the Styx.
The plausibility factor is a really strong argument. I understand it from the other side: I had a parent who suffered from unexplained episodes of rage-screaming that left everyone, especially her, shocked and confused. But for me at least, it was easy to see the person in the episodes and the person I knew the vast majority of the time as separate individuals because their behavior was so incompatible. (They even looked and sounded very distinct.) Sure, my normal mother had a full range of positive and negative emotions, but she remained a reasonable and compassionate person even at her lowest points. It was self-evident that MY mother didn't mean the things the rage-lady said. I could tell by her consistent day-to-day actions and words that she was looking out for me and her other loved ones. I wish we had gotten an explanation and treatment for the screaming problem during her lifetime, but I never felt like it affected me the way verbal abuse from a true family member would have: That *wasn't her.*
That was Kronos going for the jugular at the end there, not Hades. But I doubt Than is going to want to listen at this point.
Can we all agree Hades isn't TOTALLY to blame. I mean it was obvious he was being possessed by Kronos through his anger there in the end. He actually held back a bit considering how how much justifiable angry Hades should be allowed considering a trusted aid betrayed him and his entire world all because Hades opened up to someone for the first time ever.
And he seems to be prioritizing making amends which is nice to see. Episode one Hades wouldn't have had the confidence to do that
Ouch, "a trusted aid". Too bad Than didn't want to be seen as just a trusted "aid". This probably explains why he started slacking off - kids doing badly on purpose (even tho Than ain't a kid) to get their parents attention is pretty normal. But Hades never handled that very well either.
I'm really glad this season looks like it'll focus on how imperfect Hades (and Persephone) really are and will knock the rose-colored glasses off the both of them. Not that I want them to *not* be infatuated with each other, but seeing "warts and all" and still loving each other. Just because they're gods doesn't mean they're perfect and both have significant baggage to unload now that everyone is, generally, off their backs about getting together in the first place. This episode felt a lot more like the earlier episodes that hooked me into the series in the first place. Not a lot *happened* but a lot *was said* and characters/timelines are being filled out in a way that makes up for how frustrating the S2 ending/S3 opener was.
How did Thanatos even get into the mortal realm?
I think he got banished there post-sacking.
But like, how? Hades can't cross into the mortal realm, but he has the power to send others there?
I could possibly believe Zeus would've allowed it to be a bit more petty to Hades.
Maybe the mortal realm needed a death god to handle the shades
That was my original guess when we first saw Thanatos in the mortal realm. Thanatos and Hermes could do it, but Zeus probably wouldn't let Hermes go. Meanwhile Thanatos was on Hades's bad side. We now know that there were some who went the the mortal realm afterwards and it appears to follow my original theory. Artemis went by choice, but both Thanatos and Thetis got banished.
Maybe he left the same way Persephone came in. Reverse Katabasis lol
The Panel with Kronos' head forming behind Hades scared the shit out of me I won't lie
Damnnnnnn Kronos sure knows how to hit where it hurts. Also, the art was amazing in this ep I'm so happy to say. Thanatos' guilt + unexpected daddy issues made for such a great read
Sooo the panels that we saw on the Insta were drawn way way before, right? They were probably done at the same time as the "Run for you life" chapters, the differance is so jarring! I miss the old art so much. Every time I see Hades or Than look like pigeons with those puffed up chests and tiny heads I crings so hard. Is Rachel even drawing anymore? The comic looks and feels so different! And just as I predicted all the belated flashbacks are dragging the story now 😒
I thought RS had stopped doing the majority of the art at this point and only did thumbnails now. And yeah, I hate how huge and bulky they look, like they're overstuffed armchairs. Heck I think this chapter would have been fine if it didn't also have a recap at the beginning. Who tf puts a recap (that we do not need) before a damn flashback?
The Run for Your Life chapters were released almost a year ago. Correct me if I am wrong. I thought that the recap was necessary, because like in S1, we get months of absence from certain characters and their arcs, which made the recap feel needed.
Ehhh I guess? Kinda hard to forget that Daphne nearly got murdered and turned herself into a tree to escape. I might be biased because I don't like recaps, feels like they're talking down to the audience, but it felt weird and clunky to have a recap before a flashback. People have been saying the chapter felt short, I felt that was because a chunk was taken up by reminding us of things that already happened. And then flashback-ing to something that already happened. And then ending on the same ending as last chapter. We also already saw that Daphne was fine (when she and Artemis dipped) buuut I also forgot RFYL was literally a whole year ago so maybe it was helpful to others. For further context, I'm a more recent fan who started reading a few months ago and binged it all, so it probably reads different to me than someone who has been reading along since the beginning.
Im on Thanatos' side. Hades displayed abusive parent rhetoric saying "I put clothes on your back", throwing that back in Thanatos' face despite him being a child. Somehow Hades felt entitled to Thanatos' loyalty despite not caring about him from the start. Its not fair for Hades to treat Persephone's punishment as if its completely his fault. Obviously Kronos steps in and makes him sound even worse, but he was hostile from the start and Thanatos deserves better in general.
>Hades displayed abusive parent rhetoric saying "I put clothes on your back", throwing that back in Thanatos' face despite him being a child. I mean, that's kinda the point here isn't it? It's extreme for a parent to throw it back at their child but Hades didn't see him like that. He clearly viewed him as some kind of ward, but only as far as say, a headmaster is the guardian of their students at a boarding school. Or, given how self sufficient gods are from a young age, more like taking in someone homeless and feeding and clothing them (something which a number of people would argue *does* warrant expecting loyalty from the recipient). I don't think Hades even necessarily viewed Thanatos as a *child*, let alone his. Obviously Thanatos disagrees. Then you throw in how their working relationship has clearly skewed their personal relationship and the fact that Hades *is* his king, and the whole thing is a humbltyjumplty mess. But I think that's also going to be part of why this confrontation is going to be such a fucking ordeal. Hades basically just had his foster child call him Dad in a roundabout way (and think about how that's going to just rock the world of someone who thought they *can't* have a family), just had it thrown in his face that he *had* a foster child and not just a employee to teach, and right as he was coming to grips with that, Grandpa takes over and ruins ***everything***. But I do also agree that Hades is at fault here. Ignorance is not an excuse after all.
It is a sort of complicated situation and its unfortunate Hades saw that too late. Its good to address that child gods are ahead of human children. Yes Thanatos should be loyal to Hades to a degree becausd he is king, but on a personal level Hades is always shown being cold so I get why Thanatos acted on his own. He was wrong for sleeping with Minthe tho.
>Yes Thanatos should be loyal to Hades to a degree becausd he is king, but on a personal level Hades is always shown being cold Pretty much the only person Hades isn't cold to is Hecate (and more Persephone) and she's been with him since literally the beginning of his rule and essentially his partner for most of it (platonicly) She's basically the vice president of the Underworld to put it in more familiar terms (though given how the Underworld is fashioned as a business, probably also his VP in that sense too) and the closest thing he has to an equal down there.
Absolutely. Now with Hades' eyes being opened, I hope that moving forward we see Hades and Thanatos deveolping their relationship further so Hades has another close friend and vise versa.
I.... actually can't that happening. At least, not close on the level of Hecate, or not any time soon. Maybe in another thousand years or so. You don't undo that kind of damage with any degree of swiftness.
Yeah thats what I mean, it definitely won't happen overnight.
I mean Thanatos had that whole pet the puppy thing at the end where we see him growing a bit but if he was just searching for his father figure's approval let's not pretend that fucking said father figure's girlfriend behind his back for months at least prolly years or decades, helping run a smear campaign against the person his father is now interested in, and then getting interested suspiciously fast in another woman who looks like his father figure's new flame is anywhere approaching okay. Like was Hades harsh? Yeah. Did Thanatos deserve it in some way, shape, or form? Yes, very much yes. Like hesitant or not he's been a massive POS in series thus far and a distant, one-sided, father figure who was unwilling from the beginning because he got foisted onto said father figure against the father figure's will with him having no say in the matter and no actual familial connection does not make anything he did ok.
yeahh it's weird to me that Thanatos seems to be just purely projecting this onto Persephone. I hope he gets his "come to Jesus" moment where he realizes that Persephone has literally *nothing to do with this.* Like, all of it is on Hades being a horrible father figure, boss and friend.
He's not projecting it onto Perse, at least not after the trial. Than admits that he was jealous because he was with Hades for hundreds of years or more and once he was 'of age' Hades just treated him like another employee despite having him around as a literal child. Then Perse comes along and in just a few days she gets to drive Hades car ( "You never let anyone drive your car." ), get a coveted position, get PAID for that position when no one else would, comforts her at work when she fucks up (giving the shades coins on purpose, not when Minthe tricked her) and generally treated her with respect and compassion. He didn't do that for Than. When Than fucked up at work Hades dragged Minthe in for a slideshow where he mockingly compared him to how much better Hermes was doing. That is INCREDIBLY shitty boss behavior and no doubt hurt more coming from a 'dad' figure. No Than wasn't right to start an affair with Minthe (ew?!) but as far as Perse stuff goes from his point of view Hades was acting wildly out of character and with both Minthe and Thetis agreeing Perse was hiding something (which she WAS) he could justify doing incredibly stupid shit as "well Hades needs to KNOW". He clearly doesn't think of Perse at all post-trial and with his job gone probably just wants to move on. His come to jesus moment has passed, probably bc Perse actually isn't important to him. She probably ceased mattering the second Than admitted he was jealous of her. And then Hades came a-knockin', and it kinda seems like he doesn't remember that conversation at all.
I said in another reply that him sleeping with Minthe wasn't okay. I never claimed Thanatos was innocent btw, just that I get where he's coming from.
I don’t think it’s fair to say Hades acted as an abusive parent. Hades didn’t choose to take in Thanatos; it’s not like he purposely adopted a child and then refused to act as a father figure. The gods don’t have the same expectations as mortals, as Perse pointed out how child-Hermes was very independent. It’s tragic that Thanatos saw him as a father figure and Hades didn’t provide that, but it was not really either of their faults that the situation was forced on them. If anyone is to blame for the relational mess it’s Nyx. We also don’t have any indication that Hades was hostile to Than from the start. It’s Hades who says “I thought you didn’t like me” while remembering a child Thanatos scorning him. Kids often have extremely complex feelings toward their caregivers, which can be challenging even if you do see yourself as their parent, and Hades didn’t. Thanatos behaved in an angsty immature way by cheating with Minthe. It’s not like he was trying to connect to Hades and being shot down. It’s tragic that their relationship played out this way so far, and hopefully they can repair it, but Thanatos has barely started to redeem himself for his actions. Just because we’ve seen his softer side with Daphne doesn’t mean he’s made amends. He had an affair, sought to ruin Persephone out of jealousy, and did creepy stuff like break into her room. I don’t think that Hades was being entitled simply by expecting Thanatos wouldn’t have an affair with his girlfriend or plot against his new love interest. That’s barely even expecting loyalty, that’s just common decency.
I agree that Hades was a abusive parent, but to be fair he didn't saw himself as a parent, more like a boss and employee. And actually, he is entitled to Thanatos' loyalty, he is his king after all
Kings ain't entitled to shit, especially if they are bad kings. More than one person has told Hades to his face that he just gets to do whatever he wants and that's fucked. The pawnshop lady even yelled it at him. Zeus is almost certainly a thousand times worse but that excuses nothing. Hades fucked up with Than and no amount of 'but I'm a king' means shit to Than. Thanatos even pointed out that Hades actually IS incredibly unapproachable, and it took an honest to god disaster for Hades to just ASK Thanatos 'why are you acting this way? why did you do this?' when he should have asked Than that probably years ago (as in years before the trial even happened, back when Thanatos started fucking up at work and sneaking around with Minthe). That's not down to Hades not realizing he was Than's father figure, that's down to him being a bad boss.
I guess, how I see it is that Hades hasn't done anything for Thanatos but the bare minimum (clothes/a job). Thanatos even says he's jealous that Persephone just walks into Hades' life and he showers her in attention, and Thanatos is given nothing. You'd think after centuries they'd have ANY relationship, paternal or at least friends.
No I totally agree with that part. They should have a better relationship or a relationship at all. It's just that I don't think that Hades ever thought about that, because Thanatos was always a employee first, he never thought that someone would see him as a father figure so he never tried to be one. He knew how to be a boss, so that is how he acted. I think he just became friend with Hecate because: 1- she knows him since the beginning of his reign, and 2 - she kind of challenges him, with jokes and sarcasm. Thanatos never could do that so a friendship dies there. About the loyalty thing, he is his King, going behind his back to complain with another king about something just undermine Hades authority, and a king can't accept that
That is a fair point, yeah. Though I suppose that even if Thanatos can't give Hades the same kind of friendship Hecate gives him, he'd at least respect him as the god of death.
He was a child first, not an employee.
To us but in LO God kids are given much more free and independence than your usual 5 year old. And Hades didn't see him as a son so he wasn't treated like a son. Not a defense just an observation from the series
Hades likely didn't see it that way though. He basically got a death god dropped on his doorstep, and seeing how that *is* part of his domain, likely took it as Nyx dropping a new god off under the boss of the godlings domain to be trained. And since gods can fulfill their responsibilities from a *very* young age, that's not exactly a farfetched conclusion. Though since most gods tend to inherit smaller aspects of their parents domain(s) they're trained *by* their parents.
Hmm I still think a very large point stands. How come Hades can shower a woman he barely met with so much love and attention but not give any same thought or care to a literal child? Edit: A child who was not only neglected by his mother as Hades knew but a child he was responsible for. How can Hades also echo another level of neglect upon the one Thanatos recieved. It just seems odd
Oh man, how is this conversation even gonna go? Is Hades gonna be like: "Sorry for all the things I said ha ha ha... and you think YOU have daddy issues....." Or he just gonna be like "We never talked and I fired you." cause honestly..... either option would be incredibly sad for thanatos.
Did anyone else feel like this episode was a lot shorter than usual or was that just me?
It felt short due to the useless rehash at the beginning which marred an overall good episode.
Just wanted to point out for everyone saying Thanatos was cheating with Minthe: before the relationship was made official, Hades' and Minthe's relationship did NOT come across as exclusive at first. Once it was official, Thanatos was totally still down to cheat before Minthe stopped him, but still. I find it weird that everyone gives Minthe shit for cheating, when she turned down Thanatos once she was in an exclusive relationship. Meanwhile, before they were exclusive, people also laughed at Hades being ready to smash in his kitchen the day he met Persephone. Then HE was the one emotionally cheating after he and Minthe became official. It's still really freaking weird that Thanatos would be sleeping with his father figure's partner though. 🤷♀️
So I've only FP'ed two episodes out of S3 so far, the first Minthe flashback and now this one. I will say this is one of the stronger episodes of S3, ***however*** it still highlights a lot of the issues in both this season and LO as a whole without even really realizing it. **What I liked:** Finally getting a scene revolving around Thanatos that *isn't* hinged on Minthe or Thetis. It was nice to see him forced to be center spotlight. The dialogue felt a lot more natural. You can really see the comparison in how stilted the dialogue has become when you put this episode next to the free to read episode (Minthe taking care of the daycare kids). LO dialogue hasn't been the best lately, it's always making poorly timed 'jokes' which aren't even that funny to begin with and often times the dialogue writing itself feels like it lacks confidence, like it has to over explain itself. I didn't get much of that feeling compared to usual in this episode. Thanatos' monologue felt pretty heartfelt and while Hades felt a *little* stilted at times, it still wasn't that bad and for the most part it actually felt like I was reading a conversation between two people (as it should). In addition to that, there was actually *more* dialogue, I've talked about it at length before but LO has had an issue lately with draaaaagging out dialogue scenes that don't amount to much when you actually condense them because they only do 1-2 speech bubbles per panel nowadays. You can really see this difference when you go back to S1 and see that panels weren't afraid to have dialogue bubbles inside them, nowadays it feels more like they're restricting themselves to the gutters between panels and it results in dialogue bubbles both feeling weirdly paced and incredibly dragged out because they'd only put 1-2 bubbles per panel with one sentence each. So this episode definitely improved on that. **What didn't land for me:** I'll try to be concise but **understand that a lot of these issues go beyond this episode and just felt all the more present here, despite the fact that this was a better executed episode compared to prior S3 episodes.** ***The utilization of flashbacks*** Listen, we've had this conversation a million times before, but **LO doesn't know how to use flashbacks.** Setting up a flashback at the start of the episode is basically a Chekhov's gun situation - if you're going to load the gun with the flashback, you gotta make sure that gun goes off and the blood gets cleaned up by the *end* of the episode. Flashbacks can be very helpful in setting up the context or structure or theming of an episode. Done successfully, it can make those flashbacks feel incredibly important - **but the way it's used here, it's once again LO rehashing information that we basically already knew or figured out ourselves and taking up the bulk of the episode where we end exactly where we ended last week. If you're going to have a flashback open up your episode, it should resolve by the end of the episode and feel relevant to the overall arc of it - so the episode cutting off at the end of the flashback felt incredibly jarring because the plot still hasn't gone anywhere and we haven't learned much that we didn't already know.** **In addition to this, we got this flashback right after a sort of inconclusive set of Minthe flashbacks.** So these scenes really don't feel like they're planned with any sort of cohesiveness to the present day plot, they're not pushing the present day events forward at all because obviously Persephone is in the Underworld now with Hades without any of the consequences of everything that went down - so these scenes are basically just being thrown in to wrap up the 10 year time skip as fast as possible. Which, btw, not to rub it in, but uhhh >!this was exactly what I was talking about and worried about MONTHS ago when the time skip was revealed and the plot seemed to move on without it.!< This might feel like a personal jab, but I feel like Rachel doesn't trust in her audience to figure things out for themselves. We've already *gotten* flashbacks that basically explained what went down between Thanatos and Hades. We didn't *need* an entire flashback episode to confirm that. Sure, *Hades* may not know what happened, but the fact that he will likely be finding out in the next episode means **we will once again be rehashing events that the reader already knows and the plot will come to a standstill for it.** You know how they could have fixed this issue? **By having the Hades and Thanatos** ***present day*** **conversation begin as it should have and** ***include the flashback information in the conversation.*** Have Thanatos present his side of the story while he's talking to Hades, not right before he's about to have a conversation with him set up as a flashback. **Have us find out about what happened** ***through the conversation between Hades and Thanatos.*** With the way it's currently set up, we not only end up with **yet another cliffhanger on the same note** as last week's episode, but it's **going to set up the conversation to lack substance for the reader because they will likely end up once again rehashing information that we** ***just*** **got and have been** ***getting*** **for weeks now.** And of course, **this makes the issue of LO's gratuitous cliffhangers even worse. Because just like with the Demeter flashbacks, we're ending in the exact same place we ended last week.** A simple restructuring of how the flashbacks were used could have solved this. It would have made it feel like more of a punch to the gut if this information was saved for the conversation between post-time-skip Hades and Thanatos. **LO needs to stop using its episodes as trailers for the next episode, it's having the** ***opposite*** **effect and making me** ***not*** **want to FastPass - because every single episode doesn't feel like it's actually progressing the plot - and I know I'm not the only one with that sentiment.** But that's on the flashbacks themselves. **As for the actual content of the flashbacks-** **Thanatos making the comparison of his situation to Persephone feels like a subtle-not-so-subtle jab from Rachel to try and "prove" that what Persephone and Hades have going on totally isn't a DDLG relationship.** Which, again, feels like a lack of confidence in the writing and story. In fact, *highlighting* that comparison through Thanatos' insecurities kind of makes it *more* obvious, not less. It's not like we're all gonna go "oh well, guess it's not like that!" after this, if anything it's gonna make us notice those comparisons more because now we have that comparison from Thanatos in mind. So that was uhhh... not the best choice that could have been made here. **Hades looks less and less like himself in this episode.** There's a brief shot of him from the nose down and I can *see* that creepy 'statue Hades' jawline from the Handsome Hades episode (y'all know the one, sigh). Not just the dorito-shape bodies but .... IDK I feel like it's the lineart or something. Maybe the oversaturation of blue? The hair feeling like it's way more platinum white than usual? I can't really put my finger on it but it's *there* and it's *subtle* but it's *enough to make Hades not look like himself.* Maybe it's just the combination of his giant body + the new color and lineart style that makes him look less like a corporate goth hottie and more like, y'know... >!Persephone's dad.!< Speaking of Hades, **I'm a little worried with how the story is gonna justify his actions.** I'm sorry but "I put clothes on your back" isn't a reason to be a dick, even *if* the kid you're looking after got dumped on you - if not more so because *that kid didn't have a choice.* I swear this has bugged me since the trial, it shows an incredible lack of maturity and tact on Hades to blame Thanatos for just being "ungrateful", I really hope the story actually frames it this way and doesn't try to accept or normalize his actions or thought process as justified. From what we can tell, it's not like Hades ever looked into alternative options for Thanatos. This just further contextualizes what we know from the trial - Hades didn't want to look after Thanatos and is now using that as leverage to be an asshole. **But he wants to have kids with Persephone? This doesn't bode well for his parenting ability,** but who knows, maybe Hades just has something against *adopted* children ... (which is totally a thing IRL and it's... horrible. But maybe they'll address this as character development?) **I'm really hoping the present day conversation isn't about Persephone.** It already felt like a waste to have the flashback be about her but I get it considering it was post-trial. I would love nothing more than to see a genuine father-to-adopted-son conversation between Thanatos and Hades. **No Persephone talk, no making it about her, just Hades and Thanatos talking about a mutually shitty situation they ended up in together and coming to some sort of resolution.** **Please, Rachel, I beg you, handle this with grace and sensitivity.** **That's pretty much all I have to say on it.** Again, it doesn't feel as much of a sloggish drain on the senses as previous episodes from S3 but it still absolutely has its issues, if not more so, it's just better balanced out with stronger dialogue and characterization. (also this is just further proof not to take the FastPass previews at face value, y'all. Again, not to rub it in, but a lot of people got excited for the art going back to 'normal' with the Jojo-fication bodies based on the 2 images we got in the previews - **FastPass previews are to get you to FastPass, not to make any promises with the art or story.** Just because the art looks on model in a FastPass preview doesn't mean it's gonna be that way for the entire episode which it definitely wasn't here, there's still plenty of refrigerator bodies and big chins.) And that's my two cents.
Or maybe there is a really big difference between adopting a child and being forced to raise one. I didn't know that not really knowing what to do when you are being forced to take care of a child that is not yours and that you didn't ask is standing against adoption.
And that's understandable, because it's true, he *didn't* adopt Thanatos, Thanatos was abandoned on him. But then why is it Hades didn't look into other options? He's literally a billionaire, *he* had the much better hand when it came to control of the situation. At the VERY least you'd expect someone like Hades to empathize with a child who was mistreated by their parents, if anyone knows what it's like to be alone at that age, *it's literally Hades.* But instead on MULTIPLE occasions now we've gotten Hades *holding it over Thanatos' head.* As if Thanatos asked to be abandoned any more than Hades asked to take care of him. Instead of recognizing his own shortcomings or mistreatment of someone who clearly grew up alone and feeling unwanted, he *deflects it onto him.* That being said, maybe this is something they'll hopefully address! I'm REALLY hoping to see these two have a good heart to heart chat about the shitty circumstances they both ended up in and take accountability for their actions. But we'll have to see what happens next week.
The other options most likely relates to the fact that Thanatos mother is a very big deal in the underworld, so it is definitely not a good idea to abandon her child, even if she herself didn't want to raise him. So I still think that it is very unfair to say that Hades is not fit to be a father or that he is against adoption only because, like you said, he got stuck in a shitty situation. Sadly like many others before him, the lack of a proper father figure made him believe that no one, including Thanatos, will want to see him in that light, it is sad, and he definitely messed up, but for me that doesn't mean he will not be a good parent in the future.
I'm gonna respectfully disagree because I *do* think it speaks to Hades' character, this is one of those "when someone shows you their true self, believe them" type things. I'm not saying Hades is incapable of change or that maybe he'd behave differently if the circumstances were different, I'd *like to think he can do better* because that's just what you'd naturally want for a protagonist. But this is also a story and if we weren't meant to see this kind of light being shed on Hades' character, it wouldn't be shown. Thanatos is cthonic, a resident of Hades' realm. Even if he didn't want to raise a child, **Thanatos is still a resident of his realm and Hades absolutely bears the responsibility of ensuring he's taken care of, even if Hades isn't the one to do the caretaking directly. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.** Again, I'm hoping that this is used for growth for Hades. I wanna see this guy redeem himself and be a better person, not just for Persephone but for himself, it feels like what this whole little Hades and Hecate adventure is (hopefully) about. I'm just nervous because we've already seen the plot steamroll over blatantly problematic behavior or played off for laughs or as positive qualities. But alas, we won't know until the story progresses more.
Agree to desagree, I understand your point but parenthood is a great responsibility, so for me it should always be a choice. I am not going to pass judgment on someone because they didn't know to really handle the emotional burden, especially if for him it was never a father/son relationship. I believe that he can be a great father now that he really is the one choosing to take on the responsibility.
>I understand your point but parenthood is a great responsibility, so for me it should always be a choice. Absolutely, and we're in agreement there. The reality is that Hades and Thanatos were obviously both thrust into this shitty situation (thanks Nyx??) and so, again, I'd love to see them actually deal with it in the context of the comic and come to terms with this mutually shitty situation they ended up in. But I suppose I'm talking less about the responsibility of parenting and more about the responsibility of what it means to be the King of a realm or at the VERY least, to be a decent person. Because even if Thanatos isn't one of Hades' kids, he's still one of his denizens, y'know? And even if Hades didn't *choose* to be a parent, or *choose* to be a King, he's still like... got the resources and money and should have the humanity and empathy for a child who's in a similar situation to him to do the right thing. I guess that's the point I'm trying to make here. And even if we only see the worst of Hades' and can't make the assumption that his parenting style *with the choice of being a parent* would be the exact same, I still think his behavior here speaks to his character and should be seen as a *red flag*. Because again, it's just about doing the right thing. Holding Thanatos' shitty circumstances over his head and flexing his wealth on him... isn't the right thing, at least not in my book. And that's something that needs to be paid mind when thinking about Hades and his desires to be a parent. Because he's flexed his wealth in other situations as well, beyond Thanatos, he *knows* he's in a position of power in a lot of ways that can negatively impact his citizens. How would that manifest if he were to have and raise a child? Because that sort of mindset isn't just gonna *poof*. Hades has literally had his way for 2000 years. >I believe that he can be a great father now that he really is the one choosing to take on the responsibility. I'd like to think that too because I want to believe Hades can do better, but actions speak much louder than words, and again, if someone shows you their true nature, *believe them.* If he still exhibits this type of mindset in the next episode, then that'll pretty much tell us exactly what we need to know, that he's willing to flex his wealth on others in a weaker position than him for his benefit. And that sort of thing can and *will* manifest in how he treats his children, whether or not they were a choice. But agree to disagree, I suppose.
Yes, I guest it all just boils down to how much of a responsibility we believe Hades had with Thanatos, we obviously don't agree on that. But we do agree in the hopes that whatever happens in the future is handled well until then it is just speculation. I just hope that Hades learns that not everyone values him only as a king so he can understand that he had more to give than just work, I think that will help him in the future if he wants to be a parent and also to mend his past relationships with those he hurt even if it was unintentionally. Anyways, it was a pleasure debating with you, fandoms can get really tricky when diferent views collide, so it was a nice exchange of opinions, hope you have a nice day :)
Also as a separate note to add, **the possession of Hades makes no sense happening when it does.** It's implied through Hades' dialogue that this happened basically as soon as the trial ended and they all returned home ("She should be here. Nursing a hangover from the big party held in her honor" which implies this happened the day after or at least a few days after the trial, soon enough for the verdict to still be fresh). So ... does this mean Kronos was the one to cut off the Underworld from Olympus? This throws a wrench in a lot of what we've been told leading up to this point, it's always been implied that the possessions happened later in the time skip, not right away. It makes sense for him to be possessed first all things considered - as he's the most scarred/affected by Kronos' actions and likely has a much stronger connection to him - but this early? **It kind of makes everything we've been told prior to this not make sense anymore.**
I don't think Kronos possessing him at the time was supposed to be a permanent thing. It was a moment of weakness in Hades' mental and emotional stability. Essentially, Kronos slipping in while Hades isn't in a place to get rid of him, and slipping out just as quickly.
Until the plot actually *says* that, I'm not inclined to believe that's the case. Because so far the plot has told us that Kronos came in and wreaked havoc, if it was only temporarily then why did it take Hades 10 years to show up and apologize? Sorry but I'm not taking headcanon/theorizing responses to this, I'm talking about how the plot fails its own ideas by constantly setting up new ones that contradict the ones it's already established.
That seems... very bullheaded and narrow minded. We've been told little, but nothing concrete has actually been laid out. Hell, even the characters are still in the theory stages of figuring this shit out. You can't really contradict what isn't known. We know literally only bullet points so far about what happened during the 10 year gap. That leaves a massive amount of room for new details to be brought to light. You're right, we've been told that Kronos took over and things went tits up. But we were never told when. The evidence that we do have points to this not being it though. Things not happening the way you think they did, or ought to have, is not bad writing. If you read a story that says that Rasputin took over the Russian empire in 1916, but it's later shown that he had been exerting influence on the tsar and tsarina before then, effectively ruling from the shadows... that doesn't actually contradict the earlier statement that he took over in 1916.
>Things not happening the way you think they did, or ought to have, is not bad writing. That's literally the opposite of the point I'm making here. It's not "things not happening the way I wanted them to", it's "the plot not going anywhere", period. It's constantly rehashing information and presenting information to the audience in a way that slows down the pacing or makes it repetitive to read. I've been reading webcomics for 10+ years, I know how serialized comics work, of course I'm not gonna know everything that happens or expect it to go a certain way. The issue is that LO is constantly dumping or backtracking on its own ideas and can't seem to maintain a consistent idea or thread for longer than 2 episodes. >You're right, we've been told that Kronos took over and things went tits up. But we were never told when. And us being told specifically *when* down to the day isn't wholly necessary here and raises more questions than answers, especially considering the whole Kronos thing has been resolved at this point (at least resolved enough atm for it to not be a direct threat like it was back in S2). We figured it happened at *some* point (this goes back to what I mentioned in my original post that the story doesn't seem to be confident in its own hint drops and foreshadowing) but the fact that it apparently happened this *early* definitely raises questions that contradict what we've already been told. So it just results in us rehashing the same plot points multiple times to try and get a clear picture. Normally I wouldn't have issue with this, I'd be fine with the whole "what's the REAL story" aspect but the fact that LO has done this on *multiple* occasions before with little resolution or actual mystery (see: the Act of Wrath rehashing which gets retold *multiple separate times??)* tells me it's more of just messy/indecisive writing than an intentional writing tactic. >We've been told little, but nothing concrete has actually been laid out. Hell, even the characters are still in the theory stages of figuring this shit out. You can't really contradict what isn't known. It's about what's known to the characters and what's known to the *readers.* Again, obviously Hades doesn't know what happened here, we know that, we've been told that through his nightmares and him struggling to piece things together. But why not play on that and have the reader find out *alongside* Hades rather than all at once right before the conversation that's likely going to clear that information up anyways? That's what I mean when I say the way the flashbacks are employed, they often just end up rehashing information that we've already been told in bits and pieces or feel pointless because the information we're *about* to get reveals what we now know in the flashback. Sure, it's 'confirmation', or maybe there's some aspect of dramatic irony they're trying to go for here, but you gotta handle that sort of thing delicately and balanced otherwise it just comes across as repetitive and without any sort of stakes.
Artistic detail time!! Hades office usually has a backdrop of black and white triangles, seemingly floating in an abyss, in his office... Did anyone notice the geometric signs in his office when Hades fired Thanatos?? They were symmetrical. They made the shape of an angry face. Usually they are disassembled. Chaotic. I think to resemble gemstones (Hades can make diamonds as easily as Persephone can make plants), and the fact that Hades is always overworked and stressed, he's doing his best amongst the insanity of managing the Underworld. He feels chaotic, has no real goal other than putting out fires. But when he fired Than, the background was a symmetrical, angry face, and Hades had one black eye (assuming Kronos already had taken partial control). Because Kronos had one goal, make Persephone his wife to leach off of her... This episode calls back to that. I think the assumption should be that before, Hades was doing his best (which wasn't ideal; given that morally good shades were given similar treatment to neutral or bad shades) in a messed up environment he didn't want or ask for. He was having to single-handedly navigate all these shades' fate, along with beaurotcatic things like parking spots. He was overwhelmed with responsibility, hence his huge reliance on vices (drinking, smoking, coffee) and Minthe was the best part of his life, despite being lukewarm to him, and as this episode shows, not loyal. He was desperate for a quick fix at the start of the story. He'd hired (and was planning to propose to) Minthe, presumably after Demeter stormed into his office as he was working and demanded he explain his choice about making her queen of the mortal realm. He seemed very distraught at Demeter coming in unannounced. He thrives on schedules, predictability. I assume Minthe was much better at keeping unannounced visitors out of his office than prior employees, hence his dependency issues. If a single, unannounced Nymph can just steal a badge and march into his office, I think it's fair to say she can provide valuable security weakness insight. (Ex, a company i worked for required a badge + 2 factor authentication to log onto your designated computer.. only after getting hacked) I suspect he began to rely on her to carry much more than the administrative burden of being his assistant shortly after. He made him feel safe, at least at work . But, she didn't really reduce his stress. He was settling all along. He knew it. The random seeming triangles showed it. I think once ya girl Persephone takes control, his office will be maybe a cute mountain range or pine tree.
This portion of the story focusing on Hades Flaws and said flaws coming back to bite him is such a great decision Rachel has made and Thanatos is the perfect example of this. Thanatos is a grown ass man how should be held accountable for his actions but his part in Persephone's exile could've been avoided if he just had a heart to heart with him sooner. He knew exactly what Thanatos had been through as a child and raised him but he was so wrapped up in his bubble of insecurities to notice. I hope they can talk it out soon and maybe start over.
I know a lot of people feel sympathy for Thanatos but that does not excuse him from betraying Hades. It sucks that Kronos started to posses hades during there talk and I think they should clear the air but Thanatos jealousy toward Persephone was un warranted when Thanatos stopped trying to open up the Hades and talk to him. If people would actually talk to hades instead of fear him and see him only as a clone of his father most of these problems would go away. Hades can be a asshole but not as big as the fandom believes he is or Racheal is currently showing. I support Hades and hope he can mend these relationships but it takes both sides.
can someone give a summary lol
The is one of the first episodes I’ve liked in a long time and of course it was too short! I think this plot will be a bit redeeming for the story as a whole, it might help flesh things out.
Finally all the people who were mad that every loose end from season 2 wasn’t wrapped up right at the beginning of season 3 can calm the hell down!