Highlights
- Melinoe faces a daunting challenge in Hades 2: defeating Chronos, the Titan of Time, who has a long history with Hades and the Olympians.
- Unlike Zagreus, who developed a cordial relationship with his father, Melinoe's relationship with Chronos seems to be purely antagonistic.
- The postgame narrative in Hades 2 may pivot to something completely unexpected as the story explores Melinoe's relationship with Chronos and Hades, potentially accepting irredeemable relationships instead of reconciliation.
Melinoe faces a massive challenge in Hades 2: to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time. Capturing and imprisoning Chronos in the first place took all of his children's strength combined and while Melinoe won't have to do it alone, the task ahead of her is one that's very different from Zagreus' goal of escaping the Underworld. Where his relationship with Hades formed the core of Hades' story and developed into an awkward truce in the postgame epilogue, Melinoe most likely won't have the same option with the Titan of Time.
Chronos has a long history with Hades and the Olympians. In Greek mythology, he's the tyrannical leader of the Titans and the father of the Olympians Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. His children overthrew him in a war and locked him away in the depths of Tartarus. The trailer for Hades 2 depicts Chronos as the primary antagonist, and he'll be very different from Hades as Melinoe's relationship with Chronos is depicted as purely antagonistic, a contrast to the cordial relationship Zagreus' developed with his father.
How Chronos is a Different Antagonist to Hades
Zagreus' story didn't end once the credits rolled; there was still much of the story to uncover postgame in Hades. Rather than escaping from the Underworld to see Persephone, Zagreus came to an agreement with Hades to officially test the defenses of the Underworld, landing him a job and the approval of his father. The tone of this section of Hades is hopeful and overall very positive, which is unlikely to be the case for Melinoe, who faces a very different foe.
Unlike Hades, Chronos is depicted as purely antagonistic, even within his original myths where he consumed all his children to avoid being defeated by any of them. Chronos' familial relationship with Hades and Melinoe and his possible control over her in the form of a time loop would create a very different postgame world for Melinoe. Unless her relationship with Chronos evolves in unexpected ways to something more friendly, it's likely that Hades 2 will have a post game where the story pivots to something completely unexpected.
Zagreus and Melinoe's Abilities Could Change the Game
Aside from Chronos' nature of being a one of the biggest antagonists to the Olympians, the roguelike mechanic of permadeath will likely be implemented differently in Hades 2 and put a spin in the works for the postgame narrative. Zagreus' role as a possible god of rebirth correlates with the gameplay mechanic of his death and rebirth throughout Hades. Melinoe, as Zagreus' sister, is also immortal and theoretically could do the same, but using either time loops or magic instead of a death and rebirth cycle would correlate with Chronos' abilities as the Titan of Time or Melinoe's as a sorceress.
As Hades included the unexpected plot device of Zagreus being unable to survive outside the Underworld, Melinoe may encounter something that keeps her trapped within the time loop, or give her a reason to keep venturing into Chronos' Tartarus prison even after rescuing Hades.
Supergiant Games made Hades to tell a story about family relationships and how they change and develop over time, for better or worse. It could be possible that Melinoe's story will be about her relationship with Chronos and Hades at its heart. While Zagreus' relationship with his father improved from hostile to cordial, it could be possible that Chronos' relationship with both Melinoe and Hades is irredeemable and Hades 2's endgame could explore what it means to accept that through various questlines.
Hades 2 is in development.