While the original Hades from Supergiant had us playing against Zagreus in what can only be described as a brooding teen running away from home, Hades 2 sets t🃏he stakes significantly higher. Melinoë faces off against time itself.

The dreaded Chronos has risen from death and used time to his advantage, fr𓆏eezing any gods who could stop him and raising th♏e dead from their slumber to assist him. The annals of history on his side, he seems insurmountable. Yet who actually is Chronos, and how does he relate to the Olympian and Chthonic gods?

Who Is Chronos In Greek Mythology?

Before we can get into who Chronos is, we need to discuss the etymology of his name first. Chronos can actually refer to two different deities in Greek mythology, one a god and the other a Titan. Titans were some of the first beings in Greek cosmology, created by Ga🌜ia and Uranus, and Cronus was the youngest of these 12 Titans.

Chronos is the spelli𒊎ng typically associated with the Greek god of time, while Cronus usually refers to the Titan that birthed the first Ol꧟ympian gods.

Cronus, alongside his fellow Titans, would eventually overthrow the Primordial forces that created them and rule over existence themselves. Yet their own children, the Olympian and Chthonic gods, would in time overthrow them as well, and specifically imprison Cronus within Tartarus. Thus, the cycle of overth𓃲rowing was compl🎶ete, and the Olympians in time gave birth to humanity.

As a Titan, Cronus had no association with time itself, but with harve🥂sts and the passing of time associated with them. The god Chronos, seen only in smaller sections of greater Greek mythos, was seen as the embodiment of time, and was even one of the progenitors of all the gods and forces of existence. Due to the similarity of name, the pair at times became closely associated and even s𒁏een as a single figure.

This would later spread into Roman myth, and Cronus became seen as an embodiment of time completely independent of Chronos. This was due in part to Cronus rep🍌resenting seasons and others viewing this as a personification of time itself anyway.

Chronos exists more in Orphic myth, hence why the more storied Titan Cronus became more prevalent ♛in later Roman belief.

The Titan Cronus, despite having no intentional associations with time, came to represent it anyway. Presiding over harvests, which were victim to the whims of time, and the cyclical nature of his overthrowing, led to him becoming a strong trait of his anyway. Chronos, the actual embodiment of time, was ironically over time subsumed into the Titan Cronus.

Who Is Chronos In Hades 2?

With all of that etymology and history out of the way, we can move on to the interpretation of Chronos that exists in Hades 2. Here, the name Chronos is used, which is typically associated with the embodiment of time from early Orphic myth. However, the figure they actually are is the Titan, the father of the Olympian gods. Here, Chronos is known as the Titan of Time, despite this not being a✅ strict a🌟ssociation of his in actual Greek myth.

The spelling 'Cronus', despite that being the name more commonly associated with the Titan, is not used at all, with Supergiant instead opting for a spelling more similar to that of chronology itself.

In this way, Supergiant has effectively combined both deities into one. As a thematic approach, this gives the Titan Chronos a firm assℱociation with a primordial force of existence, creating a strong villain. Linguistically, this closes the door on the Orphic embodiment of time existing in this rendition of Greek myth, removing the risk of any name-related confusion.

Hades 2 is currently 🍨in Early Access, so a♓ll actions of Chronos are subject to change.

Hades 2 opens with the knowledge that Chronus has removed the many Chthonic gods from the equation by freezing them in time, kept them as trophies, and has turned the House of Hades into his own personal base of operations.

From his Underworld domain, he has launched assaults upon Olympus in hopes of bringing down his remaining children. Melinoë, rescued by Hecate in her infancy, remains the sole ꧑force capable of taking down Chronos, and this is the mis🦂sion the game immediately sets forth for you.

Of course, one cannot simply kill Time. On top of slow-down effects simply not working on Chronos, he will always return. He is Time, and time cannot be stopped. Thus, death is only a temporary setback for him, and Melinoë knows this. For now, that is the extent of Chronos' presence and activities in Hades 2, with his ultimate goal yet to be revealed.

Why Does Chronos Oppose His Children?

Aside from combining Cronus the Titan with Chronos the embodiment of Time, Supergiant's interpretation of Chronos the Titan of Time sticks fairly closely to the Titan myth from greater Greek Myth. He was born of Gaia and Uranus, and then he and his fellow Titans were overthrown by the Olympian and Chthonic gods.

Chronos, alongside the fellow Titan Rhea, gave birth to the first Olympian gods. These included Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia. Chronos, however, was aware his children would eventually betray him and so sought to consume them upon their birth, though h♊is was tricked by Rhea.

As a result of this, the prophecy came to pass and Chronos and many of the other Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus. Rhea, having assisted the Olympians, is a key exception, hav🐬ing remained🧜 with her children after the War of the Titans, though in a now greatly diminished role.

Rhea has not yet been mentioned in Hades 2 by Chronos or any others, which makes her r🎉ole seem all the more inevitable to be confirmed.

Now somehow freed from his prison within Tartarus, Chronos has taken the House of Hades and now assaults Mount Olympus. Though his end goal cannot yet be determined, his base actions can - vengeance.

Chronos says as much to Hades after capturing his family. He was made to suffer, so now his own children should be punished the same. Still residing within Tartartus, he somehow captures the Fates faster than they can weave the inevitability of their own imprisonment and attacks Olympus endlessly. The end goal isn't clear, but it can be theorised.

Rhea, the mother of his children, and the one who betrayed him for them. Though not stated in Hades, Rhea is said to reside on Mount Olympus after the War of the Titans, and it is entirely possible he is assaulting Olympus for this very reason. He hopes to find her and exact further revenge for how she betrayed him. With the pow🌠er of the Fates, he can all but guarantee his success.