Hades (KH III)

The god of the Underworld who acts like a bad comedian. He's got a short temper even though he acts 'cool' most of the time. Hades was an old member of the original Hellfire Club 2 years ago, but now he has rejoined Maleficent's Organization to try one last shot in Universal Domination.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
When Terra arrives to test his strength and to see if he can handle his own darkness, Hades convinces him to enter the Games to master his dark powers (his true agenda is to find a warrior strong enough to "give Zeus a jolt of his own medicine"). However, when Terra fights his way though the tournament and gets to the title match, Hades has a Plan Beta since Terra is not using his darkness. Using his magic, Hades empowers Terra's opponent Zack with enough darkness to make him a match for Terra in the final round.

However, when Zack loses, Hades takes control of Zack, gripping his heart with darkness, just as Maleficent had done to Terra previously. This makes Zack more powerful than his last fight with Terra, but Hades has his Plan Beta beaten by Terra who defeated Zack, freeing his heart from Hades's control. Slightly miffed by the turn of events, Hades left remarking: "I guess I bet on the wrong dark horse. That kid just doesn't have it in him to handle darkness".

When Aqua arrives at the Coliseum searching for Terra and takes part in the Games to find him, Hades appears again after she defeats Zack in the final West division match to see who the competition is for the West division. Revealing that he's her opponent for the Games' title, Hades nicknames Aqua "little bluebird" due to her hair color. After insulting Terra, by calling him a "chicken heart" for not using his darkness, Hades tries to coax Aqua into using darkness herself, but is rebuffed angrily by her.

Hades just laughs off Aqua's threat after she vows to make him regret trying to use Terra. When Aqua faces him in the title match, Hades calls for back up in the form a copy of the Ice Titan called the Ice Colossus. He defends this cheating by saying partakes of the tournament may call in back up to help fight. Despite Zack having his offer to help Aqua declined, Hades ends up losing the match when "the snow cone" vaporizes from the long battle due to being an imperfect copy of the actual Ice Titan. Angry, Hades retreats to come up with other plans.

Kingdom Hearts
When Maleficent began her conquest of the worlds, Hades became one of her allies. He utilized the Heartless by supplying them as monsters to the Olympus Coliseum, for heroes to battle as usual. However, he also gained the assistance of Cloud Strife by making a deal: if Cloud kills Hercules, Hades will lead him to Sephiroth (who he apparently does know the location of, as Sephiroth is indeed at the Coliseum). Hades additionally provided Sora with a pass to enter the Coliseum games.

When Sora appeared to be winning in the Coliseum however, Hades instructed Cloud to kill Sora as well. When the plan failed (either with Cloud refusing to deal the final blow to Sora, or with Sora defeating Cloud; it depends on the result of the battle), Hades had Cerberus attack Cloud. However, Hercules rescued Cloud and Sora defeated Cerberus.

As Sora left the Coliseum, Maleficent warned Hades not to be overcome by the darkness. Hades sent Maleficent away, claiming he could handle it. He ironically was not overcome at all (while the rest of Maleficent's followers and Maleficent herself ended up being overcome, with the other exception of Captain Hook). Strangely, Maleficent overlooked the fact that Hades was the immortal god of the dark underworld. This lead to the inevitable irony of Hades outliving Maleficent as well as being currently the only villain in the whole series to show up in all the games and survive and will probably continue to survive due to him being a god.

When Hades learned of Maleficent's demise, he took matters into his own hands. Hades, determined on personally defeating both Hercules and Sora, opened the Hades Cup in the Coliseum. The long, grueling tournament had a battle with him near the end. Unfortunately for Hades, Sora defeated him in the battle, knocking him into a cell where he was beaten up by someone. After a few more battles in the cup, though, Hades decided on a way for revenge.

In events very much like those in Hercules, Hades unleashed the four Titans upon the world (although only two are seen, it can be guessed that the other two and possibly the Cyclops were as well). When Sora reached the final rank in the tournament, he had to combat the Rock Titan. Upon its defeat, Hades apparently went into hiding.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
When Sora and his friends are in Castle Oblivion, Hades makes an appearance as a figment of Sora's memories in the recreation of Olympus Coliseum. He, like before, hired Cloud to defeat Hercules. However, the only difference in their deal if that Hades will restore Cloud's lost memories instead of helping him find someone.

Eventually, Cloud was unable to defeat Hercules, due to fatigue. Hades decided to fight Hercules personally after firing his hired assassin. Sora intervenes which leads to a battle against him, during which he is the first of two Disney villain characters to use sleights. Defeating him grants you his enemy card.

First Visit
Hades again appears as an antagonist when a re-awakened Sora visits the Coliseum, but most of his dealings take place in the Underworld in this game. This time, in an effort to destroy Hercules, he tries to strike a deal with the dead Auron (whom he calls "The Mother of All Bad Guys"). He offers him his life back with a clean slate, on the condition that he "Fight Hercules. In the Coliseum. To the death!" Auron refuses this offer. When Hades reminds him that he is talking to the Lord of the Dead, he responds "No wonder no one wants to die." Hades becomes enraged, and almost strikes Auron down until Sora arrives, needing to speak to him. However, it ends up with Sora and gang running for it as Hades is invincible within his domain, and they are weakened by the Underworld's curse.

Pete suggests waiting for the Heartless to take care of Sora and company, but Hades knows better and dispatches Cerberus to take care of them instead. However, Sora and Auron defeat Cerberus and escape when Sora unlocks a door with the Keyblade. Learning that the Keyblade can open any lock, Hades decides to steal it and reopen the Underdrome, a coliseum locked up by Zeus long ago that makes the Olympus Coliseum itself "look like an Olympic kiddie pool". When Pete informs him that the Keyblade won't work for just anyone and the fact that Sora is a lot tougher than he looks, Hades decides to apply "a woman's touch" to his plans.

To this end, he kidnaps Meg and traps her in the Underdrome. This means Sora must use the Keyblade to rescue her, unsealing the Underdrome in the process. Hades also sent a Hydra after Hercules so he would be out of the way. Hades's plan works and Sora opens the Underdrome to save Meg. Pete waits in ambush, but Sora still manages to save Meg with Hercules's help. He tells Sora to take Meg as he confronts Pete, but Sora, after taking Meg to safety, returns and together they beat Pete who retreats.

At the exit of the Underworld Hades confronts them and reminds Hercules about the Hydra which he had neglected to finish off completely. They enter the Coliseum to see it in ruins with the Hydra towering over it. The Hydra is defeated, but Hercules lost his strength and will, because of the guilt that he had since he had not completely destroyed the Hydra.

Second Visit
To celebrate the Underdrome re-opening, Hades decides to hold the Hades Cup, in the hopes of killing the weakened Hercules once again. Trapping Auron's soul in a statue, he orders him to take care of Hercules and Sora once and for all. But inevitably, the scheme fails, as Sora finds Auron's statue and gave him back his soul. A furious Hades dumps Meg into the River Styx with Hercules diving after her. Confident they'll be dead within moments, Hades overpowers Sora and gang until Hercules emerges, his full power restored by willing to risk his life to save Meg.

Hades is soon quickly defeated and, while attempting to avoid a hit from Sora, loses his footing and falls down into the River Styx. Despite this, Hades manages to escape, though he doesn't appear to cause Hercules and company much trouble after that. Later in the game, Hades opens his Paradox tournaments. After Sora wins the Hades Paradox Cup, a scene is shown where Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hercules, and Auron are celebrating with the trophy. Hades looks at them furiously, but is then kicked by Pegasus which sends him flying across the Underdrome.

Kingdom Hearts coded
In Kingdom Hearts coded, a Data version of Hades makes a deal with the Data Cloud: if Data Cloud destroys Data Sora and Data Hercules, Data Hades will give him the power to go to other worlds by telling him "The Secret of Heroes", and make him become stronger. However, he later double crosses Data Cloud, and reveals that he isn't the source of Olympus Coliseum's Bug Blox. After the defeat of the Data Cerberus, the real source of the world's Bug Blox, Data Hades battles the trio of data heroes and loses. He tells them he is not finished yet and will come back soon.

Role in Reconnect
With all of his schemes against Hercules being thwarted by Sora, Donald and Goofy, Hades has decided to go after them now by joining with the Hellfire Club Neo. Like Pete and Maleficent, he travels from world to world, sending Heartless in his wake and striking alliances with local villains.

Eventually, Hades decides to finish things at last back at home, and starts to enact a new plan that will allow him to rule Mt. Olympus and the entire Multiverse in the process. So, he takes matters into his own hands, attempting to recruit an army of monsters to defeat Hercules.

Later on, after Maleficent and the council of Xehanorts are defeated, Hades decides to join Chernabog's alliance, hoping to get a slice of the universe once Chernabog's through with conquering the galaxy. This allows Hades to obtain his own keyblade, the Under-Dweller Blade, which allowed the Lord of the Underworld to summon and control the souls of the dead.

When Hades discovers that Hercules could not be defeated by his monsters, he sends Megara to seduce Hercules and find his weakness. She falls in love with Hercules on their date and forgets about the mission, simply saying that he has no weakness. Hades deducts that Hercules's love for Megara is his weakness and uses her to trick Hercules into giving up his godlike strength for Meg's safety. Hercules agrees and Hades, knowing Hercules will not interfere, not only unleashes the Titans but also sends the Cyclops to kill Hercules while he is powerless.

During the Cyclops's attack on Hercules, a pillar falls on Meg, severely injuring her. This breaks Hades' promise that Meg would not be hurt, causing Hercules to regain his strength. Hercules proceeds to go to Mount Olympus, defeating the Titans and thwarting Hades' invasion. However, Meg has died because of her injuries and Hades claims her soul as his consolation prize, knowing how much her death will hurt Hercules.

Hercules storms into the Underworld, subdues Cerberus and confronts Hades, demanding him to return Meg. Hades smugly explains to Hercules that Meg is dead and he can't have her back. Hercules offers his soul in exchange for Meg's and Hades displays a moment of being genre savvy, seeing the deal as almost too good to be true. However, he decides to agree on the condition that Hercules must retrieve her himself. It is not until Hercules has already dived in that he shouts that he'll be dead before he can get to her. The Fates attempt to cut Hercules' life thread, but are unable to. Hercules' genuinely heroic sacrifice causes him to become a god, making him immortal. Hercules emerges from the river, carrying Meg and Hades, astounded, attempts to smooth-talk Hercules again, who angrily punches him, sending Hades into the Styx, where he is swarmed by the souls trapped inside and dragged into its depths. With Hades' demise, Chernabog loses control over his army of ghosts and wraiths without the lord of the dead to keep them under control, forcing the lord of darkness to elevate his minion, the Phantom, as his new general of the dead.

During the end credits when the thanks to the staff are shown, Hades' voice is heard saying that everyone's got a happy ending but him, then asking if anyone's listening and he asks if he's talking to hyperspace.

Appearance
In his normal state, Hades has blue skin and blue flaming "hair". His eyes are completely yellow except for his black pupils. He has very sharp teeth and an unnatural black mouth. His face is quite long and thin, with his chin jutting out abruptly. His fingers are long, thin, and clawed. He wears what appears to be a dark grey shirt underneath a black toga, the latter of which seems to be held up by a small skull pin on his right shoulder. Hades's feet are never visible, due to the length of his robes.

When Hades gets angry, he quite literally erupts with anger, his skin turning red-orange and his "hair" flaring up in red, orange, and yellow flame. The light this fire gives off also bathes his clothes (and the surroundings) in a red hue.

Personality

 * "What is so funny, you imbeciles! How dare you get a happy ending... HOW DARE YOU!"
 * —Hades, after Hercules saved Meg

Hades is one of the most temperamental characters in the series. Although others are shown to be temperamental, Hades bursts out in anger on a more regular basis. When Hades gets angry, he explodes into a red pillar of fire and his normal blue colored "hair" burns red (which is ironic since blue fire is warmer than red fire). Also, when Hades is angry, it is shown that he is invulnerable and much more powerful than in his normal state.

Hades is also shown to be very cunning and smooth when calm and tends to talk a lot; for instance, when he tricked Sora into opening the Underdrome to save Meg. He also shows this trait when talking to Hercules, most of the time giving indirect answers and eerie hints that usually lead Hercules to danger. Also, unlike other Disney villains, Hades never seems to lie directly, instead never telling the whole truth of the matter. Hades also has childlike tendencies, like blocking his ears with his fingers and pretending he doesn't hear Sora when he tries to talk to him. Interestingly, his data representation admitted that it has an ambition to rule the world in Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.