#just look at the different hades's in hadestown!

[neon-in-the-night-time]

ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, i present: the first god to strike percy as godlike... oh wait. he's exactly like the other gods in the show

[strangelittlelad]

No but what business did Patrick Page have done by letting Jacob Marley look at Roberto/GC Present like Hades looks at Persephone?????

I'm sorry???? Ebemarley (?) not denied and I still have hope for old man yaoi

[princesssarisa]

In the past I've shared other people's musings about the different interpretations of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Namely, why Orpheus looks back at Eurydice, even though he knows it means he'll lose her forever. So many people seem to think they've found the one true explanation of the myth. But to me, the beauty of myths is that they have many possible meanings.

So I thought I would share a list of every interpretation I know, from every serious adaptation of the story and every analysis I've ever heard or read, of why Orpheus looks back.

One interpretation – advocated by Monteverdi's opera, for example – is that the backward glance represents excessive passion and a fatal lack of self-control. Orpheus loves Eurydice to such excess that he tries to defy the laws of nature by bringing her back from the dead, yet that very same passion dooms his quest fo fail, because he can't resist the temptation to look back at her.

He can also be seen as succumbing to that classic "tragic flaw" of hubris, excessive pride. Because his music and his love conquer the Underworld, it might be that he makes the mistake of thinking he's entirely above divine law, and fatally allows himself to break the one rule that Hades and Persephone set for him.

Then there are the versions where his flaw is his lack of faith, because he looks back out of doubt that Eurydice is really there. I think there are three possible interpretations of this scenario, which can each work alone or else co-exist with each other. From what I've read about Hadestown, it sounds as if it combines all three.

In one interpretation, he doubts Hades and Persephone's promise. Will they really give Eurydice back to him, or is it all a cruel trick? In this case, the message seems to be a warning to trust in the gods; if you doubt their blessings, you might lose them.

Another perspective is that he doubts Eurydice. Does she love him enough to follow him? In this case, the warning is that romantic love can't survive unless the lovers trust each other. I'm thinking of Moulin Rouge!, which is ostensibly based on the Orpheus myth, and which uses Christian's jealousy as its equivalent of Orpheus's fatal doubt and explicitly states "Where there is no trust, there is no love."

The third variation is that he doubts himself. Could his music really have the power to sway the Underworld? The message in this version would be that self-doubt can sabotage all our best efforts.

But all of the above interpretations revolve around the concept that Orpheus looks back because of a tragic flaw, which wasn't necessarily the view of Virgil, the earliest known recorder of the myth. Virgil wrote that Orpheus's backward glance was "A pardonable offense, if the spirits knew how to pardon."

In some versions, when the upper world comes into Orpheus's view, he thinks his journey is over. In this moment, he's so ecstatic and so eager to finally see Eurydice that he unthinkingly turns around an instant too soon, either just before he reaches the threshold or when he's already crossed it but Eurydice is still a few steps behind him. In this scenario, it isn't a personal flaw that makes him look back, but just a moment of passion-fueled carelessness, and the fact that it costs him Eurydice shows the pitilessness of the Underworld.

In other versions, concern for Eurydice makes him look back. Sometimes he looks back because the upward path is steep and rocky, and Eurydice is still limping from her snakebite, so he knows she must be struggling, in some versions he even hears her stumble, and he finally can't resist turning around to help her. Or more cruelly, in other versions – for example, in Gluck's opera – Eurydice doesn't know that Orpheus is forbidden to look back at her, and Orpheus is also forbidden to tell her. So she's distraught that her husband seems to be coldly ignoring her and begs him to look at her until he can't bear her anguish anymore.

These versions highlight the harshness of the Underworld's law, and Orpheus's failure to comply with it seems natural and even inevitable. The message here seems to be that death is pitiless and irreversible: a demigod hero might come close to conquering it, but through little or no fault of his own, he's bound to fail in the end.

Another interpretation I've read is that Orpheus's backward glance represents the nature of grief. We can't help but look back on our memories of our dead loved ones, even though it means feeling the pain of loss all over again.

Then there's the interpretation that Orpheus chooses his memory of Eurydice, represented by the backward glance, rather than a future with a living Eurydice. "The poet's choice," as Portrait of a Lady on Fire puts it. In this reading, Orpheus looks back because he realizes he would rather preserve his memory of their youthful, blissful love, just as it was when she died, than face a future of growing older, the difficulties of married life, and the possibility that their love will fade. That's the slightly more sympathetic version. In the version that makes Orpheus more egotistical, he prefers the idealized memory to the real woman because the memory is entirely his possession, in a way that a living wife with her own will could never be, and will never distract him from his music, but can only inspire it.

Then there are the modern feminist interpretations, also alluded to in Portrait of a Lady on Fire but seen in several female-authored adaptations of the myth too, where Eurydice provokes Orpheus into looking back because she wants to stay in the Underworld. The viewpoint kinder to Orpheus is that Eurydice also wants to preserve their love just as it was, youthful, passionate, and blissful, rather than subject it to the ravages of time and the hardships of life. The variation less sympathetic to Orpheus is that Euyridice was at peace in death, in some versions she drank from the river Lethe and doesn't even remember Orpheus, his attempt to take her back is selfish, and she prefers to be her own free woman than be bound to him forever and literally only live for his sake.

With that interpretation in mind, I'm surprised I've never read yet another variation. I can imagine a version where, as Orpheus walks up the path toward the living world, he realizes he's being selfish: Eurydice was happy and at peace in the Elysian Fields, she doesn't even remember him because she drank from Lethe, and she's only following him now because Hades and Persephone have forced her to do so. So he finally looks back out of selfless love, to let her go. Maybe I should write this retelling myself.

Are any of these interpretations – or any others – the "true" or "definitive" reason why Orpheus looks back? I don't think so at all. The fact that they all exist and can all ring true says something valuable about the nature of mythology.

[tossawary]

I saw "Hadestown" a while ago and found it pretty fun, especially because while it is a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, it is also doing its own thing. It sets the story in a company town and presents a Hades in his aspect as the god of wealth. Though, it's not always clear in "Hadestown" what is figurative and what is literal. It plays with that mythological line a lot.

Hades is a wealthy businessman who owns mines and factories, which exhaust and trap (and presumably kill) the workers, a "god" among men, and Eurydice comes to work for him out of desperation. She doesn't actually die in this story... uh, I'm pretty sure. You can interpret the musical's ending a lot of different ways, I suppose. But when Eurydice first ends up in "the Underworld", in Hades' clutches, and signs a work contract to survive, her "death" is figurative.

So, when Orpheus comes to retrieve Eurydice, "Hadestown" is presenting us with a version of the story in which Eurydice can actually get away. She's not trapped by something as inescapable as death. When Orpheus appeals to Hades' love for Persephone and convinces this "god" to release Eurydice, I was watching the couple walk away together and thinking to myself, "What if they made it? What if they get to live together this time?"

I knew they wouldn't.

It still hurt.

And it later occured to me that a happy ending would betray not only the original myth, but also betray the new story that "Hadestown" presents to us.

"Hadestown" is a story concerned with poverty, with the fear of starvation and freezing to death, with the labor and rights of workers, with the oppressive power of wealth, with the selfishness of the rich. It's not subtle about it. At all. Hades is here as a figurative god of death, but he is very much present in his aspect as a god of wealth.

Hades releases Eurydice, but makes it conditional, because while Orpheus' song has softened him, he immediately becomes worried that this kindness makes him look weak and will set a bad example for all of his other workers. He doesn't want other workers to try for freedom or for other people to believe his workers can be set free. He curses Orpheus with doubt in order to make him look back.

Personally, I thought that the ending became a little messy, regarding what was figurative and what was literal. It fell back more into mythology, with how arbitrary Hades' condition is and how looking back automatically took Eurydice away. But I still liked it. Musical theatre is very well suited to that kind of blurriness in its lines.

If Orpheus had suceeded in saving Eurydice in this version, then the story would be saying that you can have your happy ending if you just work hard enough for it, if you're special enough, if you believe in yourself. The story would be saying: Orpheus' beautiful voice convinced a powerful, wealthy man that he and Eurydice were unique, that their love story was different, that their tragedy was unfair, and that they shouldn't be treated like the other poor workers. You just have to sing the right pretty song and people will listen to you out of the goodness of their hearts.

It's kind of what a modern audience expects: the heroes will succeed. They will succeed because they worked hard and they were special. The fact that Orpheus fails here too, even though Eurydice wasn't dead in this story, feels like a song getting stuck in your head because the ending is missing. It feels wrong. It's upsetting.

It made me think about how their ending was unfair. It made me think that their tragedy shouldn't have happened. That they could have been happy if only Hades hadn't taken advantage of Eurydice's poverty, if he wasn't so cruel to his exploited workers who create his wealth, if he didn't hoard his wealth instead of sharing it around, and if the wealth hadn't been allowed to go to one person in the first place. Orpheus and Eurydice were not without flaws, sure, but they were ordinary people just trying to make their way in the world. The "don't look back" condition is so arbitrary and unfair and disrespectful.

Everything happened at the unkind whims of a wealthy businessman who was scared of looking weak and losing power. It's not fair and it's all Hades' fault.

To me, though they tell you from the beginning that this is a tragedy, it seemed like "Hadestown" wanted you to think, "Maybe Orpheus and Eurydice will make it this time," and then wanted you to feel let down when they didn't. And maybe then wanted you to think to yourself, "As long as this same story keeps happening, they're never going to make it. Maybe there shouldn't be gods of wealth putting conditions on freedom, and deciding who lives and who dies. It's not fair."

[jess-ence]

Cloud & Aerith are Orpheus & Eurydice

An Analysis:

Hello! I wanted to share my analysis on how Cloud & Aerith represent the Ancient Greek legend of Orpheus & Eurydice, one of the most well known tragic love stories. I love this game and I love this legend and after seeing connections I wanted to share it with others. This is my opinion. if you disagree, you can keep scrolling, and have a nice day <3

There have been many different variations of this story from Hadestown to Moulin Rouge. I will reference the broadway show Hadestown a lot, because I’m a huge fan of the show and it represents Orpheus & Eurydice’s story very well. With this analysis, I’m going in with the belief that Hollow and No Promises to Keep are Cloud and Aerith’s songs that are about each other, who those songs are about is a whole different argument, but to ME, it’s obvious who they’re about and I’m using them to push this analysis further.

In the Greek legend, Orpheus & Eurydice fell in love, and one day Eurydice died from the bite of a viper. Orpheus was so ruined by grief that he traveled to the underworld itself to find Eurydice and bring her back. Orpheus sang about his love for Eurydice to Hades and Persephone, who were so moved by it that Hades gave him the opportunity to bring Eurydice out of the underworld, he just has to take the long walk out of the underworld with Eurydice behind him, and he cannot look back at her the entire walk until they are out of the underworld, or else she will be sent back down. Towards the end of their walk, Orpheus is worried that Hades had tricked him because he could not hear Eurydice behind him. He loves her so much that he is driven mad by the fear and doubt that enter his mind. So much so that he ends up looking back at her, and she is sent back to the underworld.

Now for the comparison to Cloud and Aerith.

Obviously, much like Orpheus and Eurydice, we see their relationship become a precious and cherished thing, until Aerith is suddenly killed. If you really wanna get into details, guess who has eyes like a viper, Sephiroth. The one who kills Aerith.

Now Cloud is not a singer or a poet, but he does have a theme song called Hollow in the Remake. This song is heavily theorized to be about Aerith, and makes the most sense to be about her. It describes how lost and hollow he feels without her, which is so unbelievably Orpheus of him. In the lines;

“Bloody and bruised, Brought to my knees

When beaten down, When broken up

You would appear, Reach out to me,

Heal every wound, And make me whole”

It makes me think of a scene in Hadestown, where Orpheus gets beaten up while in the underworld trying to get Eurydice back. Persephone is inspired by Orpheus’ determination to get Eurydice back, his love for her and determination to get her back keeps him going even when he’s beaten down.

Throughout Hollow, he says a lot of words like “Guide me to you” “I’ll never let you go”. He still wants to find her somehow after feeling so empty from her death. Again, very Orpheus.

Let’s look at the lyrics for Wait for me that Orpheus sings in Hadestown;

“Wait for me, I’m coming

Wait, I’m coming with you

Wait for me, I’m coming too

I’m coming too”

Before Aerith even dies, she is kidnapped by Shinra, and Cloud makes it his personal mission to go get her back. After she is kidnapped in Remake, he has a vision of her, where he tells her,

“I’m coming for you”

In Rebirth, after she “dies” he tells her “I’ve got this” in English, but in the Japanese version, guess what he really says?

Wait for me.

There’s also a play called Loveless in FF7 Rebirth, where Cloud and Aerith play Alphreid and Rosa, whose story is very reminiscent of their real story. (I’m aware of how Rosa’s part can also be played by Tifa and Yuffie, but the story of this play fits Cloud and Aerith’s real story the most, as well as Rosa’s character fits Aerith the most. So I wanted to include it)

There is a line that Alphreid tells Rosa;

“You needn’t promise that you’ll wait. For I know that I will find you here”

Key words: Wait and Find

In Hadestown, Eurydice sings a song called Flowers. And guess who in FF7 is a flower girl? Aerith.

The song talks about how Eurydice regrets becoming a worker for Hades (in this version she is very poor and hungry, and Hades convinced her to sell her soul for the safety of it all) but she misses the world above and remembers Orpheus and her happiness with him in the fields of flowers.

Aside from the obvious flower connection, this almost makes me think of how while Aerith had a responsibility in dying and saving the world, she may have regrets since all she wants is to be happy with Cloud (we see her wishes on her dream date with him, spending time with him is how she wishes her life would be without the burden) and in the Advent Children script, when Cloud rides his motorcycle by a field of flowers where her ghost is standing and watching over him, it describes her feeling lonely.

Another thing to note, in Hadestown, a flower is used as a symbol for the whole show. Most notably for this analysis, Orpheus uses it as a reminder of her as he travels to the underworld and tries to give it back when they reunite. And guess what happens when Cloud and Aerith meet? She gives him a flower that represents the reunion of lovers.

In Aerith’s song, No Promises to Keep, Aerith describes this burden she has of being the last Cetra while also saying lines like,

“Till the day that we meet again

Where or when?

I wish I could say

But believe know that you'll find me“

Also:

“Still I hope someday you'll come and find me“

This just screams Eurydice waiting for Orpheus in the underworld, knowing he’ll come find her. Shes saying, come and find me, while he’s saying, guide me to you. Pair that with how Cloud keeps saying Orpheus lines like “Wait for me” and “I’m coming for you” Hollow and No Promises to Keep are such Orpheus and Eurydice anthems, even without the context of FF7 or Cloud and Aerith, those songs fit Orpheus and Eurydice so well. A man feeling hollow without his love, a woman trusting the man to come find her. *chefs kiss*

In the original FF7, Cloud gets a glimpse of Aerith after the final battle, and that’s when he says:

“the Promised Land...

I think I can meet her...there.”

Now we don’t have a clear answer as to what exactly the Promised Land is. Since Aerith is dead at this point when Cloud says this, it makes you wonder if it’s related to where you go when you die, or maybe just where Aerith goes since she is a Cetra. Regardless, she is still dead and Cloud still wants to find her, much like Orpheus when Eurydice dies.

In the Advent Children film that takes place two years after Aerith dies, Cloud himself is dying from geostigma, and sadly enough, is pushing away his friends, accepting death rather than fighting it, seemingly searching for Aerith amongst it all with how he sleeps in her church. Orpheus was known to have never been the same after Eurydice died, completely swallowed up with grief until he had the idea to see her again in the underworld.

Another interesting detail in AC, when he has visions of her, Cloud cannot look at Aerith because of his guilt until the very end where he decides to keep living on.

In the FF7 Remake, it takes a little different approach than the original FF7 did. There are multiversal aspects that have made people question if Aerith’s fate is final this time. Since we don’t know how Part 3 of the trilogy will play out, some of this is theorizing. But what I believe is that there was a new timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, it’s not the current timeline that Cloud and the rest of the party are in, but Cloud knows of this other timeline where Aerith is alive because he is the only one that can see into that timeline.

No Promises to Keep plays when they part at the very end of the game, the same song that talks about how she wants him to come and find her, just like he did when she was kidnapped by Shinra. This makes me wonder if maybe he will try to cross between different worlds (much like Orpheus with the underworld) to try and get her back. If this will be successful or not, we will see, he is Orpheus after all.

There’s another song in Hadestown called Road to Hell, about how even though Orpheus and Eurydice’s story ends in tragedy, the people in the musical keep singing it over and over hoping that one day the story will change and that one day they’ll be reunited.

“It's a sad song

But we sing it anyway

'Cause here’s the thing

To know how it ends

And still begin to sing it again

As if it might turn out this time”

A common theme with the Remake project is defying fate, repeatedly saying it’s not set in stone, that maybe it can be changed, so we’ll have to see if it’ll turn out this time.

I am one that does not mind either way if Aerith lives or dies by the end of this new trilogy. Simply because the tragedy of their romance was already great, it would be emphasized even more with this hope that maybe we can get her back. Both we and Cloud actually see a possibility of her being alive with these parallel worlds. There’s a chance he can get her back. And if he in fact still does not get her back, it would hammer in their original idea of this tragedy even more, making it more tragic. And if he does get her back, I feel like It the original idea would still be there (since we DID still see her die) but it would transcend both OG and remake that after all this time he finally found her, and maybe he’d finally be happy for it, I know people would be mad and say that it cheapens the purpose of her death or whatever but personally it would be beautiful to me. Getting that hope then getting the same result is very reminiscent of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I will say I am hopeful that Cloud can defy fate and get his Eurydice back, I would love to see them happy together by the end.

[genericpuff]

I’ve seen some people try and defend Lore Olympus by saying that movies like Hercules and such aren’t accurate to Greek myth, yet they’re still loved. And I somewhat get where they’re coming from, i really do.

BUT- I feel like part of the problem with LO is the fact that if you replace the names, you’d almost be right to assume it takes place in a completely different setting. Meanwhile, if you take away the names from the Hercules movie, you can still tell where it’s supposed to take place. (And who’s who, if you know your myths). Plus the writing of Hercules is 100% better than LO.

The difference between LO and Hercules is that Hercules clearly has respect for the source material put into it. It might not be accurate to the source material - because it's being retooled as a Disney movie for children - but you can tell there's still a lot of thought, love, and effort put into it. The team behind that movie did research on the art and culture of Greece, and adapted it into a movie that was entertaining and recognizable as a Greek myth adaption.

They put our home boy Heracles/Hercules in a tunic! Do you know how shocking that must have looked to American viewers who didn't know a shred of Greek myth and wondered why the big buff hero was being drawn in a skirt? Still accurate though!

LO, meanwhile, writes Greek myth as if it hates Greek myth for existing. It comes across more as a white woman using these stories purely for profit and colonizing it with American-esque culture. The outfits have become noticeably less Greek since the beginning, the characters never eat Greek food anymore, and the locations are left as vague as solid color backdrops to indicate "The Underworld" and "Olympus" without actually showing any set pieces or understanding of how these locations would look and feel in a modern setting.

All of these examples I gave are things we saw a decent amount of in S1. But since then it's just become talking heads on top of flat color backgrounds, eating Chinese food and dressing in American-style clothing. When was the last time we saw a mortal? There's just nothing Greek about the comic anymore because either Rachel has gotten so complacent that she just defaults to what she knows without any research (so what she watches on TV and in movies) or she only bothered with her research in the beginning to get people hooked and convinced that she's a "folklorist" so that they'd keep reading the series and giving her money on good will alone.

Using Hercules as an example of "well it's not accurate to Greek myth either!" completely misses the point of what people are getting at when they say that LO is a bad Greek myth retelling. Guess what else isn't completely accurate to Greek myth? Hadestown. Hades (the game). God of War. Stray Gods. They all take creative liberties with the source material in order to adjust it to the medium and audience they're creating it for, but none of those adaptions are quite as disrespectful as LO's. And God of War literally has little angry man going around and brutally murdering the gods. It still respects the setting of Greek myth more than LO, but unlike LO, it doesn't try to constantly sound smart with its inaccuracies, it knows fully well that it's a video game first and foremost.

And that's the beauty of myths. They can be adapted across generations and used to tell new versions of the same stories. So it begs the question, why bother writing a Greek myth retelling if you're going to make it so non-Greek that you could have just as well just written a normal soap drama and have it still be virtually the same?

Compared to all of the other examples, LO is the definition of confidently incorrect. It should have stuck to just being Greek myth inspired, not a retelling.

[plaudiusplants]

listen. listen. you know i love me a good orpheus and eurydice and that means obviously i love hadestown okay? like we've established that?? okay listen. i love love love the tragedy of it all and my god he looks back because he cannot bear to exist without her for a second longer and i could go on about this forever. but!! I have a different thing to say and it is specifically about hadestown in particular and not other versions of the myths

persephone is complicit!! in hadestown, persephone is complicit in all of it! she complains about how her husband has been changing things and she complains about how he makes others dependent on him for money when he is the one who chose to give money that value in the first place (why do we build the wall? to keep out the enemy, which is poverty. how do we keep out the enemy which is poverty? we build a wall and get paid for it) (actually do they get paid? anyway, another time), but!! she doesn't actually do anything to help the workers out of hadestown either. "well but plaudius that's not her job, she's doing what she can from her position" why yes! that's correct! i do not fault her for not being an underground railroad or something on this literal underground railroad! the thing is, though, when she's smuggling sunlight and rain water and all of that into hadestown and reintroducing herself to the workers (somebody ask me about that sometime, i have Thoughts), she explicitly sells it. she's not just distributing it, she's not a robin hood giving the wealth back to the people, she's a diamond company selling what is incredibly common and freely available. she's aloysius o'hare from o'hare air in the lorax (don't fucking come for me i watched that movie once and thought it diverged too much from the book) selling fucking AIR. "you want stars? i got a skyful. put a quarter in the slot, you'll get an eyeful. you want the moon? yeah i got her too, she's right here waiting in my pay-per-view"

persephone is explicitly profiting off of this! she claims she doesn't like how hades is running the underworld but she is too comfortable in her life to try to begin any real change in her society

[roukabi]

Wayyy down crittertown, way down under the grouuuund

design notes under the cut

I can't believe it's taken me this long to finalize some animal-ifications for Hadestown, but hey, they're here now!

Orpheus was pretty simple. I wanted something cute and cuddly, and I figured it'd be interesting to turn him into an animal commonly seen as a trickster. It'd throw Eurydice (and maybe The Audience) off guard, maybe as a little nod to looking beyond the darkness of the world to find the abundance of light within. I like to think that he wraps Eurydice up in his fluffy tail when they sleep together :)

For Eurydice, I decided against a literal songbird in favor of something that would better foil Orpheus (and leave the avian designs to the neutral characters). Where Orpheus is an honest fox, Eurydice decided to be a true raccoon - traveler of the streets, thief of the city, and a true loner. Survival of the fittest is her life philosophy... until she meets Orpheus and sees the world from a different perspective. Deep down, she wants to let herself go, to enjoy life, and to be loved. Isn't that what any stray animal wants?

As previously mentioned, I wanted to keep Hermes and the Fates as birds to separate them from the story they tell. The tall, elegant form of a great blue heron seemed right for such a sage god, even if the real Hermes' bird is the rooster. He gets to literally take Orpheus under his wing, too.

Not all gods have to be imposing, though. Persephone as a squirrel is exciting to me, because there's a lot of comedic potential in a mighty goddess being contained in a foot-long, very lively, wine-loving vessel. That isn't to say she can't be serious, of course. I've learned that most squirrels do not actually hibernate, and instead tough out the winter with stored food and a deep burrow. Squirrels are also known to (accidentally) plant trees. Therefore, I think Persephone would be even more concerned about the seasons going haywire than normal, and would react accordingly.

Hades, meanwhile, is far more stony and mountainous than his wife. Unlike their European cousins, American badgers are so infamously pushy that the word 'badgering' was invented. Hades embodies this to a mild degree, being stubborn but not too ornery. He is, above all, a king. His leucism and reversed coloring helps him stand out as the big boss of the tunnels, and obscures him in the snow. Deep, deep down, maybe he's just a big fuzzball...

The Fates may look like old crows, but they're actually ravens, and they're very insistent on that. Clotho (left) is the youngest and least concerned about mortal woes. She just spins up the string, it's none of her business what happens later. Lachesis (top) is the middle sister with an airtight plan for everything, especially the lifespans of the people. She can be a bit bossy. Atropos (right) plays it straight, and cleanly cuts mortals' strings of life. She's not benevolent, but she's not unkind, either.

As for the workers, they're just miscellaneous critters doing Hades' burrow work. it used to be a snake pit before, y'know, the snakes moved out. Now it's Hades' new empire, just as warm and bright and unstable as the surface. The burrows are large enough to house some scary-looking hounds just waiting for a chance to stretch their legs and hunt...

That's it. Yaaaay! As usual, designs are free to use with credit, should they interest you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be looking for every excuse possible to draw the hadestown cast as critters.

[jacketpotatoo]

I watched Hadestown live on the West End and I just wanted to ramble because it changed my life.

Melanie La Barrie is an absolutely electric Hermes. she's charismatic and fun and toes the line between a god enjoying the beauty of the present and a god, tired and resigned, that knows how the story ends. she is an interlocutor that invites the audience into this tale whilst being fully There with the characters. a moment that broke me was Road to Hell (Reprise) where she says the 'alright' twice to Orpheus in a way meant to comfort him rather than in a detached manner to the audience. It was like a grandmother calming down her grandson and it was devastating. I love how she stands in the shadows in scenes where she isn't involved and checks her pocketwatch often - it's a reminder of her omniscience and meta-theatrically, how she's an occupant of present stage-time as well as story time. A story time that spans thousands of years, from oral Greek myth, to Ovid, to this present retelling set in Depression Era America.

I love the jazz. the fact that the unbroken song is reflected in music genre and the presence of the band onstage with the rest of the cast. there were just little moments (like at the very beginning, Hermes goes to Eurydice and asks her if she's ready and they smile at each other before the former makes her way frontstage) where the Stage of it all is made clear. it's a story about telling stories and the cast is as important as the dramatis personae in its retelling. like the blurring of character and actor - when Our Lady Of The Underground takes time to give the band their flowers. it's so important in a story focusing on the average person and survival and creation of art. And it's just so genius to juxtapose those on stage that have access to the audience (Hermes and the band) and those that do not (the chorus and mortals). also the juxtaposition of Hades and Persephone (gods whose lives persevere in the changing of seasons and the cycle of death) and Orpheus and Eurydice (whose lives end but stories continue in this loop that inadvertently perpetuates hope by retelling in a different kind of immortality). Don't even get me started on flower symbolism. also also the band gave an encore performance and i love them sm like trombone guy?? mvp.

Some small things about the rest of the cast too: Hades was an absolute standout. he wasn't my favourite listening to the soundtrack a million times but he's a scene stealer and i loved every bit of him. just the way the actor carried himself - his walk, the set of his shoulders - was fucking perfect. tortured villain and sleazy capitalist at once. when he danced with Persephone he ended up doing this silly little jig that she followed along with after giggling a little and like. AAAAA?? And his 'I don't know' to Orpheus was so genuine. When he let Orpheus go his handshake was stretched long and he clutched him just that little bit longer because he knew that they wouldn't make it and. ugh. i'm so emotional. Persephone? transcendent. her voice. her moves! again, tortured and so, so fun. when she started dancing with Hades she couldn't look at him for awhile and her face was this beautiful mesh of emotions that transitions to pure joy. oh she was perfect.

I didn't get Irish Orpheus but Swing Orpheus was wonderful as well. He has the same puppy dog energy as Reeve!Orpheus but he was less dreamy/head-in-the-cloudsy. Wait For Me (alongside fucking gorgeous lighting and staging) and If It's True?? URGH. Actually lifechanging live experience. I'm not the same person I once was. also Eurydice was fantastic. she was British and while the cadence/accent took me a few songs to get used to, she brings a very different hard-tortured energy to Eurydice - it was an interesting and fitting interpretation of the character. this was reflected in her vocal texture as well with a much more desperate and belt-y sound than Noblezada!Eurydice. I love them both though, she was wonderful. ALSO she and Orpheus kept having these sweet little eye-contact interactions onstage when other things were going on and argh i love these goobers. a sad tale and a tragedy :,)

i have so much more to say and this is getting too long but i also wanted to mention that the theatre was full of audible gasps when Orpheus turned around. just. what an incredible, immersive, emotional experience. i'd one thousand recommend seeing it if you have the opportunity.

[radioactivesweet]

I should probably focus on the requests instead but I was listening to Wait for Me from Hadestown and I felt the need to write something inspired (I'm not over round 7 yet.)

I'm not even sure it makes sense but I just felt like it hahahah

Hades x Persephone!Reader, kinda angsty

"Wait for me"

"It's almost spring, we'll try again next fall." time was always against you - you were immortal deities, yet you never seemed to have enough time: not enough time to talk about you doubts, to have a conversation, almost feeling like strangers. There was always somethign interrupting you. "Next fall", he would always repeat it, yet every fall nothing changed.

"Wait for me?" you were hopeful as usual - maybe this year things would go differently, you just needed to overcome spring and summer then you would have had six more months to fix everything with Hades. As long as he would be waiting for you in the Underworld, you were sure you could save your relationship.

"I will." he promised smiling peacefully, as you started approaching Hermes, who would be your guide to the outside world, that of the living, like every other year. You would be waiting for him, for the day you could go back to the cold Underworld and spend another six months with Hades, despite your place supposedly being in that another world, all flowers, light and life, but from which you were groing more and more detached.

Yet, those were just empty words. Promises were easy to shatter, you knew all too well. It only too 12 minutes and 57 for that promise to be broken. No more waitings, no more falls, not for Hades at least. No winters, springs nor summer either. Everything ended the moment Qin Shi Huang's sword pierced through him. You almost felt as you were being pierced to death too. You were immortals, you weren't supposed to feel this, to die this way, like those humans you looked down on. Deities weren't meant to be that way.

As Hades started shattering right before your eyes you came to the realisation that next fall, nobody would be waiting for you. The Underworld would come back to being that place you once feared and loathed, before getting to know its lord. Now everything you knew was gone and lost forever. The crown was still yours, yet there was no king to sit beside you.

[kioneira]

"And Hades and Persephone They took each other's hands And brother, you know what they did? They danced" I just needed to draw this scene for the Hadestown au it's just so THEM I gave Austria tattoo cus Hades in Hadestown had one, so my man needed it too, Just in a different look. He got a Music sheet on his arm now, it fits him and also is cannon to Hades from Hadestown desing.

Also i had an urge to draw Roderich and Erzsébet dancing so might as well do both those things in one go. Anyway it took me 4 hours and i had a mental breakdown while doing background but it's here anyway Also i forgot that they have diff outfits in that scene so at first sketch they had the outfits from act 1 SOOO I needed to fix that too And I'm just yapping now lol

[alyona11]

Hi! So I am very new to Hadestown and I am watching the bootleg. I really love the dynamic between Hades and Persephone, but there is one thing that kind of rub me in not so good way, is Hey Little Song Bird implied that Hades and Eurydice slept together? I am seeing a lot of interpretation and it genuinely confused the hell out of me asdfghk

Hi! Well, tbf it's a tricky question, but the short answer is that Hadestown suggests that something might have happened behind closed doors. The rest is up to audience and actor's interpretation.

For example, Anaïs Mitchell often mentions in Working On a Song that in early workshops she often went with the idea that Hades cheats and pretty regularly even though these affairs mean nothing to him since the only person he loves is Persephone. It even had a cut song:

In her early drafts/productions of Hadestown you can often get the vibe that from her point of view it doesn't matter as much because they are eternal beings and love each other since the world began so does it even matter for them?

However, by NYTW this story line was cut apart from Persephone's line in How Long:

"I don't mind if you look at other girls, now and then"

"The girl means nothing to me"

"I know"

Plus the staging in NYTW Papers and Hades' protective peacock behavior with Eurydice around Orpheus in the scene also gives you a thought that they might have had an affair? Plus some bits like the fact that she has a line in Why We Build a Wall and her words "But don't you see? That's different with me!" - "Different than who? They thought they were different too!" Could also be interpreted as Hades suggesting some special conditions by granting her a role of a romantic interest. Whether the interest is real or not and did he use it or not is again up to your interpretation of NYTW Hades. He is more of a morally dubious guy (as all ht Hades are) so it's more up to you to either believe he would have cheated to put Persephone in her place or would just use showing off Eurydice as a brutal way to get Persephone's interest.

As for Broadway, I think it's still suggested and you can find profs in the lyrics but I think that they are what they are - suggestive and leave you to interprete it whichever way you feel comfortable. I think the biggest suggestion remains in Flowers with the line:

'I trembled when he laid me out

"You won’t feel a thing," he said, "when you go down"'

Which kinda can have a death meaning and sex meaning, tbf someone could have written a good article on how those topics are connected in Hadestown. So here, again chose one of the two or both.

But again, Broadway also changed the lyrics in How Long and the whole staging in Papers so it's less suggestive.

My personal opinion based on Broadway production is that it all depends on how the actor plays it and whether you believe this particular Hades is the type to sleep with Eurydice to get Persephone's attention and prove he is still attractive or he is more of a person who doesn't care about having the affair and his only goal is to get Persephone to react somehow by composing such a messed up hurtful plan. Personally, I prefer the second option maybe because I'm a pussy or maybe because I see Hades (whom I mostly base on Patrick Page ht Broadway previews) like a person who is desperate to get Persephone's attention in such a radical way like a cat pushing objects from your table to see your reaction. He wants to be stopped, he wants any reaction from Persephone. He even touches her by the shoulder before going into the office like "Look!! Look! I'm absolutely totally leaving! To cheat! See! Hey come on! I'll even take off my tie to show that I'm serious! Don't you wanna stop me???". Seems kinda way too extra to me. Like he could have just gotten to the office after parading a pretty girl in front of her and it would be understood that it's for an affair. But he takes so much time to make sure she understands that he can find himself someone when all he wants is for her to come back to him with open arms. I'm not sure he has the guts to actually damage his relationship to an irreversible degree (considering Broadway Hades is never stated as a cheater before the Eurydice sub-plot). Like it's one thing to take a mortal before her time and parade her in front of your wife (because what is a mortal life after all?) as a "replacement" and it's the other way to actually cheat on her and deal with the fact that she might never forgive him again if it is a deal-breaker for her considering they seem to be true to each other for all these years.

One interesting thing to note here as well is how Hades actors play the reaction to Persephone's line in How Long:

"He has the kind if love that you and I once had"

Because his instant reaction is "OH SHIT once had?? Does she think I don't love her still?? OH SHIT I BROUGHT THE GIRL THIS IS WHY SHE MIGHT THINK THAT", so he answers to that:

"The girl means nothing to me!"

Depending on the actor and she show the line sounds either scared, confused, angry, undignified etc. So it's once again up to you to interprete why he reacts this way: is he angry because she suggested he would actually cheated on her? Is he angry because she called him out on that affair? Is he confused and scared because she thinks he doesn't love her anymore because of his foolish decision to tease her in such a cruel way?

That's up to you.

P.S. I think one of the most interesting studies of the subject and Hades' character that I've read in a fic for that matter was the Songbird chapter of Winters Nigh and Summers O're. You can check it out, but I will warn you that it's probably one of the heaviest chapters of that fic in the emotional sense and it has explicit parts (don't worry, nothing bad happens to Eurydice. Well...apart from dying, I guess), so check out the warnings if you decide to read it.

[mrhyde-mrseek]

So I recently started practicing paganism! I currently worship Hades, Persephone, Dionysus, Athena, and Hermes, and I wanted to tell y’all about their altars

Hermes’s is a work in progress, I’m still looking for stuff to put on it (I commissioned a custom deity candle from Darkly Divine Crystals for him & I’m just waiting for them to accept the request), but right now the altar has:

My Polaroid camera

A Newsies keychain

A turkey(?) feather I found in my yard

A pretty rock from the waterfront when I went with some friends

A couple coins from my backpack

A wax Voodoo doll my dad got on a business trip to Louisiana

And this one’s Athena’s! It has

A wooden puzzle game

My kindle

A blue rock that says “creativity” (it was from a shop downtown)

A different blue and gray rock

Two tiny plastic trophies

A flowerpot (her offering bowl) with a Good Omens pen and two feathers in it

A Kamala Harris magnet from the Female Power Project

My desk lamp, which was already there but I thought Athena would like it

A scented candle

Dionysus’ altar used to be on my radiator cover next to my Playbills, but it’s really wobbly and I got scared of things falling and /or breaking, so I moved it to my bookshelf next to my makeup. Currently it has:

Two amethyst crystals

One of my several pronoun pins

A pinecone

A purple candle

A crystal ball-shaped cup (their offering bowl) with a purple wildflower in it

A gold paper heart one of my friends made me

An old painting I made that coincidentally had some of Dionysus’ exact colors

A satyr statue I made during an art class

(He also really wanted this goat plushie and these red heart sunglasses but there was no room on the altar, they’re still his tho they’re just on my other bookshelf)

Hades and Persephone share an altar, partially because I only have so many places to put an altar, partially because they’re married and don’t seem to mind sharing! Since it’s a joint altar, it’s definitely the biggest one, and has:

Red Crowley-esque sunglasses I got for my last birthday

A skull and raven Halloween decoration

Another Halloween decoration, it’s like a little shelf thing with bottled fake(?) dried herbs

A candleholder from the thrift store (Hades really wanted it)

A bat plushie that my friend named Marcel the Mycelium Bat because it has mushrooms on it

A flowerpot (Persephone’s offering bowl) with a (now dead) flower that I’m gonna return to the earth for her and a crow feather

A spellbook Halloween decoration

A Hadestown magnet

A little red candle

A metal bowl from 1978 (Hades’ offering bowl) with some crystals, loose change, and a letter I wrote to him

A little stone snake

[sorcave]

Gods like Chaos, Thanatos and Hades are all overrated. People talk about them like they are super strong and ultra mega powerful, or that Chaos is the creator of the world (he was not in any theogony), or that Thanatos and Hades were kind or better than other gods etc. The truth is we have almost nothing on these gods, so people create all type of weird fanfic about them. Thanatos and Hades are pitiless of heart, not kind, and Chaos is not the creator of the world. And neither are they strong either, especially Thanatos and Hades, who got their ass kicked by Heracles in different ocasions without the help of Athena, while Hades we have nothing substantial about him concerning any fight, and he was scared of Typhon just like any god beside Zeus.

And Hades is not the best candidate for the ruler of the world either, neither did he accepted the underworld out of pity for his brothers and yadayada. Zeus is far more capable than Hades, with Hades coming to Zeus multiple times to solve a lot of questions, even in his own domain.

Hades wanted judges to judge the dead. He decided to ask Zeus to recomend three sons of his for being judges. Zeus recomended Minos, Aeacus and Radamanthys. So Hades, instead of acting by his own, decided to rely on Zeus wisdom. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but Hades is not more competent than Zeus like some think.

He asks Zeus to give him Kore as a wife, which Zeus does. Admittedly this is more as her father than as a ruler but may still count.

Leaving aside the moral objections to this (which, despite what some people will tell you, were clearly evident in Ancient Greece and are not modern inventions), this is generally how marriage worked in Ancient Greece - the father (Zeus) gives the bride to the groom, without her input or consent (and often, although not in this story, without the groom's either).

Just look at Hades. His story in modern media has nothing to do with death. In fanfictions like Lore Olympus and similar works, is all about him and Persephone, and there is nothing about death, that is just a side note. In Percy Jackson his main trait is that he is resentful that the other gods despise him, but he dont anything related to death either.

The only modern work that incorporates Death with Hades as the main thing is Hadestown, where he is enslaving the dead.

For what i have seen, people like Hades because of his supposed gothic aspect, Persephone, and him not being Zeus. Not because of death, or to find comfort in death.

Thanatos is not the "god of something", he is Death personified. He is literaly death itself given a face and body. Hades is more properly a god of "things", and that includes Death. Thanatos is a servant of Hades.

Hades was sometimes show even above the Moirai, in this case he would have even control on how long people live, and when they should die. This was not a common depiction, but it existed.

Hades also choose the judges of the Underworld (but based around Zeus decision), he gave everything there its place, etc. Hades is a god of death, there is no need to be to formulaic, like "oh he is not the god of death".

When Hades appears in mythology, is dealing with death related matters. He sent out ghosts to punish people that did not buried the dead. He allowed some people to ressurect. He was also against people ressurecting others without his permission, like Asclepius. Etc, you get my point.

But in modern adaptations he either wants to overthrown Olympus, or is only about Persephone. Altrough the second one is accurate to myths, neither of these things have to do with death related matters per se (because he being god of the dead is only used as a background, like "he wants to take down Olympus because he hates ruling the dead").

In Hadestown, Hades main conflict is at least related to death. "What happens when people die", they became slaves of Hades (in Hadestown of course, not in greek mythology). It explores Hades relation to dead people and how this will be corrected in the end of the play. Way better than the other examples, even if not accurate itself.

In both cases, Death is just the background of the god, "oh he dont like the world of the dead". But his main purpose is to overthrown Olympus, a thing that has nothing do to with him being ruler of the dead, since any god could try to overthrown Olympus for other reasons, is not something tied to death.

I would say his best portrayal is the books Percy Jackson, but still is far from great, since being god of the dead is once again used as a background for the character main conflict (his rejection by other gods), instead of being the main thing he does. In most Hades myths, beside the Persephone one, his main concern is to keep the dead, dead (thus he killed Asclepius who was ressurecting them), or to change things in the Underworld (when he elevated sons of Zeus as judge), but that is rarely brought up in modern adaptations.

[sadsongsandstories]

I've said it before and I'll say it agaib

The tragedy of hadestown is that had Orpheus not met Euridice, Orpheus would never have turned

Had Orpheus not met the workers in their mines, and the state of desperation, he would have never turned

Had Orpheus not seen the cruelty of Hades and the way marriages can crumble and fade, he would have never turned

Had Euridice not left him the first time

And had he not been so distracted by his song to look after her needs

And had they met in a different life

A better life

Orpheus would not have turned

But they didn't

And she did

And so he did

Because the sad truth, is that it was Euridice who taught Orpheus to lose trust in others. This was the boy who toasted to the world he dreamed about. He could see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is. He was the poet, the dreamer, the hopeful young boy with his hand on his heart and nothing to lose. He never expected the worst in others, because he would never do that himself. And if no one takes too much, then there will always be enough. And the world will be sung back into tune.

It was Euridice who was the realist. The sceptic. The pragmatic survivor who would leave at the first change of the wind. She was alone before Orpheus, by choice and by nature and by circumstance. He taught her to stay, and to love, and to hope.

And she taught him to doubt.

That sometimes people leave you and betray you and deceive you.

That's the tragedy of hadestown, and the sad song of Orpheus and Euridice, that those who we love most can change us from our best self. Orpheus might have just been better off without Euridice. But that hurts me to write, because they love each other and they are perfect. It's just this version of the story. And to love it to change, but true love comes with communication and understanding, which neither Orpheus nor Euridice grants the other. That's why their love fails, because they are too immature to talk. That's why epic 3 works, it's a song of love that speaks to Hades and Persephone both, reminding them of what they have lost. In How Long we hear them speak, and their words are metaphor, unclear and poetic but full of meaning. Lovers can be different, opposites attract, change and growth and maturity as a result of life experience are healthy. Perhaps they simply met too early. Euridice was too cold and too hungry. Orpheus was too good, too naive, too blind to the ways of the world.

And so when he fell, he fell hard.

And Euridice fell with him

That is why it's a tragedy.

[jacks347]

When you remember you actively use Tumblr now so you can cross-post all your Discord fics :o (Enjoy Hadestown Bastard Warrior)

"You're really going after him."

Faith nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice, turning to see her only friend leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. She just sighed, turning back to continue packing her suitcase. "He's the love of my life, Devlin. I won't give up on him that easily." "Sister, I know you're dedicated but he walked to the underworld willingly! He saw Hades and went with him!"

Faith snapped the lid of the case shut, spinning around to face Devlin with a fire in her eyes he'd only seen a few times before. "If going to Hades and demanding him back is what it takes then by God I'll do it!"

Devlin just stared at her for a minute, as if trying to read into her soul, see if she would squirm or break under his hard stare. She just stared back, rising to his challenge and daring him to question her. He closed his eyes, sighing heavily before digging into his pocket and pulling out a shimmering gold coin. He tossed it over to Faith who fumbled to catch it. It was ancient, the engravings in a long-forgotten script. The only thing she recognized was the embossed symbol on the back. It looked like a horseshoe but Faith knew better. Omega, the last letter of a lost language, the sign of Hades. She'd never seen anything like it, it was no currency from any country she recognized. What was it? Why did Devlin have it?

What did he know?

"If you're really sure about this, I can't stop you. But I can tell you how to get down there without getting yourself killed. Unlike Albus, you won't get the easy way down on the train. You'll have to walk the tracks. That is your ticket past the gates. I trust you'll treat it with care until you come back."

Faith clutched the coin tight, feeling the cold of the metal seep into her skin. "Tell me how to get him back."

~

The air was thick with smoke and suffering, a smell that burned her nose and threatened to choke the air out of her lungs. So this was Hadestown, land of the dead, domain of death itself. It wasn't quite the fire and brimstone she'd been taught as a little girl but it was close enough. It reminded Faith of the mines she'd visited while traveling on a charity mission. Faith sucked in a deep breath that stabbed her lungs, holding it in her chest as she pushed through the slow-moving crowd. She had to find him, she would find him, she would march up to Hades himself with her love in tow and demand he return with her if that's what was required of her. Gods have mercy on her, you couldn't blame her for trying.

She waded through the sluggish worker bees of the underworld, scanning every face for the one she desperately wanted to see. How long had she been searching for? Minutes? Hours? Days? It was impossible to tell. But gods be damned, she was standing by her word, she would not return until she found her warrior.

"You are a persistent one, you know that?" A voice from behind Faith chirped, making the priestess spin around. Who stood before her was someone...different. Faith couldn't exactly tell what they were but they certainly weren't one of the dead around them. It almost looked like they were made of...stone? Was that possible? The person tilted their head at Faith, their long purple hair falling over their shoulder. "You're looking for him, aren't you? The warrior that Dad brought down.” “Y…Yes, I am. Who are you? How do you know that?” The person laughed, straightening back up with a grin. “Call me Pandora. As for how I know, it’s kind of obvious. It’s one thing for one living person to be in the underworld but two? Consider it a likely guess.”

Faith took a second to compose herself before stepping towards Pandora, attempting to look intimidating. “Take me to him or I’ll-” Pandora held up her hands in surrender with an amused smile, cutting Faith’s threat short. “Take it easy, dear Sister. I was going to do that anyway. Follow me.”

~

“Dad! Dad! She came! I told you she would!” Pandora shouted as they kicked the door open to a massive throne room of sorts. Sitting in the giant throne was an equally giant man with the same carved stone design as Pandora, white hair, glowing eyes, and a kind smile. Faith knew who he was, she’d heard stories about him all her life. “Hades…” She whispered under her breath, making Pandora pause, turning to look at her. “Hades, Tyr, Jupiter, ancient giant, whatever name you wanna give him. I usually just call him Dad.” They turned back to the man, still beaming like a child bringing their parent a shiny rock.

Hades stared at Faith for a moment with a blank expression, making the priestess squirm before he smiled, standing from his throne and gently removing a black bundle from where it was nestled in his hair to place it on the ground in front of Faith. “Is this what you’re looking for?” His voice held a hint of laughter, revealing the bundle to in fact be Albus who had been peacefully sleeping on the lord of the underworld’s hair until he was moved and was now very much awake and not very happy about it. “What the hell? Why’d you wake me up, I was enjoying that-” “Albus!!”

The man in question barely had any time to react before Faith practically bowled him over as she threw herself into his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed like he’d disappear if she let go, buried her face in his neck and cried. All the emotions she’d forced down since he left sprung to the surface, like a pressure release valve being pulled. “I thought I’d never see you again…I thought you left me…” She sobbed, her voice broken. Albus took a few seconds to recover before he very slowly and awkwardly hugged Faith back. “Faithful? I-I missed you but what are you doing down here? How are you down here?” “I could ask you the same question, you train-hopping jerk.” She sniffed, pulling her face out of his neck to look at him properly.

Hades cleared his throat softly, making Faith look up. His smile had turned sad and a little guilty. “Don’t be mad at him, little priestess. If you’re going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me. I’ve been watching Albus for a while now, he intrigued me. So when I saw the opportunity to give him a better life down here, I took it. I only realized after I heard your cries that taking him wouldn’t be as consequence free as I thought. I’m sorry I took him from you. Now I must ask, how did you get down here?”

She begrudgingly pulled away from Albus to properly face Hades. “I…was guided. In a sense. Someone told me how to get down here.” “Someone told you?” Pandora chimed in, looking very confused. “But the only person on the surface who know how to get down here without the train is…oh.” They took a second before bursting into giggles. “He really disguised himself again? Wonder how long it’s been. Did he give you the coin?” “Yes…he did.” Faith slowly pulled the golden coin out of her pocket, letting Pandora get a close look at it. Hades let out a soft chuckle of his own. “Seems Hermes has taken quite the liking to you if he was willing to help like that. Or does he still go by Devlin?” “Devlin is Hermes??” “Hermes, Mercury, maybe Odin if you squint at it, names are never consistent.” Pandora shrugged as they ticked off each of the names on their fingers.

Faith turned her attention back to Albus, her heart hurting at the thought of having to return without him, even if she knew he was safe. Would it be selfish to ask for him back knowing he was doing well here? She shook the thought away. No, she came down here on a mission, she was going to fulfill it. “Hades, my lord, I do thank you for your hospitality but I’m sure you know I don’t belong down here.” “Of course, you’re still living, you must return home.” “Then, I’ll go. But I’m taking Albus with me. If the living cannot remain in the underworld, he can’t either.” Hades frowned at that, his brow furrowing. “Dear Sister, he came down on the train. He gave up his life, he is no longer part of the overworld. The dead cannot return to the land of the living.”

Faith felt her heart stop. No, that was impossible. Sure, Albus went willingly but that didn’t mean he was dead, right? Then again, he did step onto the train. He took the dead way down. She felt sick. “No…no that’s not possible. I came all the way down here, I’m not leaving without him. I refuse! There has to be another way!” Hades thought for a moment, muttering quietly under his breath before sighing. “Fine. I’ll let you return with him.” Faith’s entire body relaxed in relief. 

“However.” 

He continued before she could start to thank him. “You must return the way you came, back up the railroad tracks. But you will not be side by side, hand in hand. If you wish to bring the dead back to life, you must lead him, standing one in front of the other. You must have faith in yourself and in him to remain behind you. If you turn back to check if he’s there at any point in your journey, he must return to the underworld and you will continue back home alone. It will not be easy, there will be those on your path that will try to make you doubt. Whether you choose to listen to them or not is up to you. That is my condition. Choose to take it and I’ll let you go. Choose not and you will return alone. Will you take this test of faith?”

Faith contemplated for a minute. A single file walk back home, simply having to trust that he would be there. Could she do it? Did she really have the mental strength to?

She had to. There was no other choice. She came all this way, she wasn’t going to leave without him.

Faith turned to Hades and nodded solemnly. “I’ll take the test. We’re going home.” Hades smiled, something encouraging but also worried. “Then let’s send you two on your way.”

~

"Think they'll make it?" Pandora looked up at Tyr curiously. His face was caught between tired and hopeful.

"I don't know." He frowned, the tired sadness in his eyes taking over as his shoulders sagged like a sudden weight had dropped upon them.

"Tyr, you let them go." Pandora looked back at the two with a worried expression, the retreating figures of the pair as they started on their journey inspiring both excitement and fear. Tyr's soft laugh had her staring up again in confusion.

"I let them try." The hope was back, a smile just barely tugging his lips up.

Maybe...just maybe...

~

Faith was terrified, she really had to admit. Her hands were squeezed together in front of her to keep them from shaking and the only sound was her heart hammering in her ears. She could do this. There was no reason she couldn't. But there was still something weighing on her, like a block of marble threatening to crush her heart if she let it hope too much.

“You really think you can do this? Bring someone back from the dead that easily?” The voice was new, lilting and dripping in honeyed sympathy. Right, this was the enemy of the return trip Hades had warned her about.

The Fates. Or Fate, she supposed in this case. He'd told her this one was called Kravatas. Believed to control the lifespans of everyone through golden strings. They didn’t much appreciate being challenged, so the path back to the surface would have them whispering in her ears the whole time, making her doubt herself in an attempt to make her break the deal and turn around. She just had to be stronger than them.

"Poor naive Sister Koria. Why do you think no one has succeeded in this before? What makes you think you're better than anyone who came before you to walk this road?" He hissed, his sweet tone doing nothing to hide the acrid venom in his words. She knew she shouldn't listen, that he was just trying to mess with her. But something in his words made her hesitate for just a second.

"Faith? Faithful, listen to me. Just keep going, you have to trust me. I'm right here, I'm still with you." Albus’s voice pierced through her thoughts, reminding her that she wasn't alone in this. She took a trembling breath, wishing desperately she could turn around and hold him or at least reach back to touch him. Some kind of physical sign that he was there. But she couldn’t. All she had was his voice and her own faith in him.

“But does he have faith in you?” The voice was back, she could practically feel his breath curling against the back of her neck. And as much as she didn’t want to think about it, his question hit her. Did Albus have faith in her? He was living the good life in the underworld, the only reason he was going back to the surface, a life he loudly expressed his hatred of, was because of her. He could turn back at any time and never say a word. She would be left all alone and not even know it until she got back.

No, I can’t think like that. He wouldn’t do that to me. Sure his life hasn’t been great thus far but he loves me. I know he loves me.

Right?

~

Faith had long since lost track of how it’d been since they started walking. The hissing doubts of the Fates becoming white noise that buzzed in the back of her head. Not like she needed them, her own doubts were far louder.

He’s still there, right? He hasn’t spoken in a while, I can’t tell. He wouldn’t have turned around without telling me, right? He wouldn’t just leave me, right?

Faith had bitten her nails down to nothing, her nailbeds aching. She couldn’t hear, she couldn’t think. She just needed a minute to process but she had to keep moving. There was nothing she could do. It was just her, the road ahead, and her own thoughts. And that was the scary part.

I just have to trust him. I know Albus. He might’ve gone down himself but he’s coming back now. And that’s all that really matters, doesn’t it?

“He already left you once. Who says he won’t do it again?”

She nearly stopped in her tracks. He was right. She hated to admit it but he was right. Faith already had to walk down into hell for him once, took him away from a life he deserved far more than what the world above was giving him. What was stopping him?

“Do it.”

I have to.

“It’s just a peek.”

Just to check.

“Prove his love to you.”

Prove that I’m not a fool.

"Turn around, Faith.”

And turn she did, looking right into the betrayed eyes of the man she doubted.

In the dead silence of their walk through purgatory, Faith could hear both of their hearts shatter.

She knew Albus didn’t cry. He just didn’t. But nothing could hide the shine in his eyes or the waver to his voice. “Missed me that much, did you Faithful?”

It was all over. She’d let the Fates get in her head. She got in her own way. “Albus…I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have doubted you-” “Don’t apologize, Faith. I’ll see you eventually, right? Don’t forget about me while you live your life up there, will you?” “I don’t think I ever could forget you, Albus York.” She laughed wetly, his face beginning to blur from the tears that welled up in her eyes.

“I love you, Faith.”

“I love you too, Albus. I’ll see you again.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

~

Devlin leaned back against the wall of the train station, flipping a familiar gold coin idly. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Faith and Albus. Lovers torn apart by doubt and want.”

The gathered crowd burst into a mix of applause and sobs, as was the reaction every time he told this story. He didn’t blame them, it was a popular one.

His coin flipping was distracted by a small tug on his sleeve. It was a little girl, one who attended his stories quite often and he’d heard some of the Sisters call Kerano. “Mr. Devlin? Can you tell it again?” Devlin sighed, shaking his head with a smile. Kerano’s hopeful stare and bright smile were too cute to deny. “Alright, one more time. Just for you. Now, on the road to the underworld, there was a railroad line.”