#like imo it's pretty clear from chronos's interactions with mel once he figures out who she is

[cephalofrog]

hades 2 spoilers below the cut. rambling about a post-final boss piece of dialogue

this is such an interesting line and it makes mel's character SO good to me

like. her entire life was marked by the tragedy that took place when she was too young to remember, and from the moment it happened it was expected that she would be fully dedicated to making it right, because that was her family that was taken. that was the mother and father and brother that, if they'd had the chance to raise her, she would love more than the world itself. she should want them back more than anything.

but, the thing is? she has other love. she has hecate and the other people in the crossroads. she can't miss the love that she didn't have from her family because it never happened - and yet, her entire life from the moment chronos took them, she was expected to be so angry and stricken with grief over it that she would be willing to dedicate her entire life to killing him.

because that's what she should be doing with all of that anger and loss - it should fuel her to kill chronos. that's her goal. that's what she has been training for her entire life.

mel is a good person - she does want her family back. she meets her father for the first time and it's a deeply emotional moment for her. it's important to note that she doesn't actually mean what she says here. but she's been expected to be motivated by loving them so much that ever expressing that she doesn't actually love them as much as she's supposed to has never been an option. nemesis tells her that she isn't fully motivated by loving them in order to hurt her - and it hurts her because it's true (at least to a degree that she finds unacceptable within herself).

and when she gets that crucial step closer to achieving her goal - death to chronos, and here he is, about to die - he asks her to hypothetically pick between not achieving that goal, and potentially doing harm to the family that she is meant to love than anything...

and the motivation to kill him, the thing that has been drilled into her over and over, the first line that you hear her speak when you start the game - that is what wins.