Hades ( Hadesu) is the true antagonist of Kid Icarus: Uprising and the true Lord of the Underworld, so he could

also be considered the main antagonist of the overall series. Hades is also revealed to have been the mastermind behind the events of the first game. Characteristics Physical Appearance Hades appears as a humanoid demon-like deity with purple skin and red tatoos. He has long red, green, and pink-colored hair. He wears very grotesquely designed robes and clothing with asymmetrical shapes and a cape seemingly made out of darkness and fire. He has red lines that run up both his arms and legs. The inside of his body is completely chaotic in design, with even skies, grind rails and surreal structures found commonly throughout. After he is decapitated by Medusa, Hades regenerates a second head composed of blue flames similar to those ofPandora. His eyes in this form are colored orange. Personality At first glance, Hades is shown to be a mischievous, manipulative trickster. When engaging in conversation, his tone is playfully dull, yet brimming with sarcasm and cruelty. He has a sense of showmanship, using a combination of witty remarks and belittling insults when talking to and about others. He also has a bit of a flirtatious side, constantly making unwanted passes and flattering remarks to and about all the female characters. Hades is considerably arrogant, brushing off any matter as no importance. However, his nonchalant demeanor belies his true dark and destructive personality. At his core, Hades is a merciless psychopath with an utter disregard for life. His lust for killing makes him seem completely unconcerned when his commanders fall in battle, stating that his army is too stupid to have an actual ranking, and has no problem killing off Medusa when she interferes during Hades' final battle against Pit. He also sees souls as nothing more than either as materials to create his monsters or a means of empowering nourishment, indifferent to the fact that his action is upsetting the natural balance of the world due to his selfish greed and hunger. Hades also is not a completely loyal team player, as displayed when despite setting aside his hostility to combat the Aurum, he sent out Mimicuties to hinder Pit's progress. Despite all his malicious tendencies, he does have a genuine sense of humor and enjoys telling jokes and making puns at even the most odd or inappropriate of times. He also shows genuine respect for Pit as a worthy adversary, holding no grudge against Pit after the latter killed him and destroyed his body, and even complimented his abilities, albeit still throwing a few nasty remarks in his direction. Abilities Hades is shown to be one of the most powerful characters in the game, alongside Lord Dyntos. Hades is also powerful enough to destroy the Three Sacred Treasures in one blast. Hades has the ability to

manipulate souls. Using this ability, he can revive fallen allies or create new monsters. Hades can also devour souls to increase his strength and use souls to regenerate lost limbs. However, the latter ability makes Hades more vulnerable to damage. However, Hades' ability to manipulate souls serves as a double-edged sword. By stealing and devouring souls, Hades erases them from existance, keeping them in limbo. This action progressively disrupts the natural balance of the world. In battle, Hades is a fearsome opponent, showing great skill in both magic and hand-to-hand combat. In the final battle, Hades dons his "Devastation Ensemble" which he only wears for very special occasions, such as weddings or armageddons. In this state, his entire body is covered in missiles and laser turrets with his face. This turns his body into a literal weapon of mass destruction. Hades can also fire lasers from his hands and face. Hades can spin at speeds fast enough to create twisters, and can teleport at speeds that can only be matched by the Great Sacred Treasure's Pursuit Mode. Like the other gods, Hades can communicate via telepathy and project his astral form. Kid Icarus Hades is responsible for the events of the first game as he is the one who gave Medusa access to his Underworld Army. There also appears to be statues of Hades in the Underworld. Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters He makes no mention in the game as to whether or not he aided in Orcos's own attack on Skyworld in Of Myths and Monsters, though it is a distinct possibility since Orcos was using the Underworld Army. A creature called Pluton is also based on Pluto, the Roman version of Hades, though it is unknown if it is connected to Hades himself. Kid Icarus: Uprising During the events of Uprising, Hades revives Medusa and her forces to serve as distractions to keep Palutena andPit on their toes. After Medusa's defeat, Hades reveals himself by breaking the fourth wall and saying that he is the one who revived Medusa as well as telling Palutena that the real fun is about begin. Hades first begins his campaign by manipulating Pit into killing off the Phoenix while making him think he is after the Wish Seed. However, revealing that he knew the Wish Seed was a fake, Hades reveals the Wish Seed's existence to the people so that they can kill themselves over a wishgranting item that does not even exist. The subsequent attacks of Viridi, the Aurum, and the Chaos Kin ultimately force Pit and Palutena to ignore Hades in favor of stopping the more immediate threats while he makes a constant presence both through his army as well as with snide jokes and nonchalant insults. During the Aurum invasion in Chapter 15, he sends Mimicuties to toy with Pit (he confirms they were his in Chapter 16). However, he does aid Pit during the attack on the Aurum Hive by having his minions commandeer one of their battleships and ram it into the Hive (an act Viridi refered to as "awesome"). Hades' reasons for fighting the against the Aurum were purely due to his selfishness (as he considered that Earth was his to plunder and his alone). InChapter 17, his army attacks the Aurum Brain

alongside Viridi's forces, Pyrrhon, Pit, and Palutena's Army. After Pit is turned into a ring, Hades' forces continue harassing humankind, though the Chaos Kin through its control of Palutena, her army, and Pit's Body becomes the enemy of humankind, Viridi, and Hades (in typical Hades' style, he takes advantage of the situation and collects the souls of humans killed during the three years Pit spent as a ring). Upon Pit's return, his forces continued to harass Pit (who is aided by Viridi), humanity, and Palutena's forces (which are under the control of the Chaos Kin). He tries to steal the Lightning Chariot both for himself and to stop Pit and Viridi from obtaining it. During Chapter 20, his forces assault Pit on his way to Palutena's Temple in the Lightning Chariot. After Pit destroys the barrier surrounding the temple, Hades takes the opportunity to attack it and Pit, all the while mockingly suggesting that Pit should kill Palutena instead of the Chaos Kin (even suggesting that Palutena hates Pit more than he does); however, he is ignored by Pit. In Chapter 22, both Hades and his forces assualt Dark Pit on his way to the Rewind Spring and mentions how he would love to get his hands on Dark Pit's soul. Eventually, everyone learns Hades' goal of using the souls of everyone who died in the series of wars to create his army and increase his own power, an act that is interfering with the natural order and is threatening all. Dark Pit manages to elude him and makes it to the spring but is attacked by the revived Pandora. Hades arrives to the spring and is greeted by Amazon Pandora (Pandora's original body) and is shocked to find out it is Pandora herself (apparently unfamiliar with Pandora's original appearance). Realizing the spring's power, he plans to destroy it to prevent it from being used on Pit but fails, and Pandora is defeated once again. Though Pit initially takes up the Three Sacred Treasures to mount an attack on Hades, the god proves too powerful as he destroys the weapons with a single attack and swallows up Pit. Hades proceeds to fight off Viridi's army before sensing that Pit is damaging his heart. Just then, Dark Pit uses the Lightning Chariot to pierce through Hades chest, rescuing Pit. Hades quickly tries to grab them, but they vanish due to Palutena's intervention before he peers at his palm. Hades then remarks, "At least I'm not dead!"

Later, Hades confronts Pit again when he is given the Great Sacred Treasure. Though it seems that Pit has the upper hand in the extended battle, all the way towards the end, Hades turns the tables and

destroys the suit. Added by DrNefarious

Though a recently revived Medusa comes to Pit's aid at the last second afterwards, Hades gets serious as he retaliates and kills Medusa with a single punch. But giving Palutena time to charge up the main cannon of the destroyed Great Sacred Treasure, Pit fires it and completely vaporizes a shocked Hades. Before fading away, Hades mutters that he never expected Pit to defeat him. Five minutes after the ending credits, Hades' disembodied voice states to the player that he might find a way to resurrect himself for the next game within 25 years, breaking the 4th wall again. Idol Descriptions Hades

029 Hades Added by Kycoo116 The true master of the Underworld. He is immeasurably strong - even among the divine pantheon - but prefers to rule from the shadows, forcing Medusa to do his dirty work. Yet even with all this evil, Hades still manage to act nonchalant. Hades (Battle) Hades, prepared for the final battle. Covered with missiles, his body is quite literally a weapon of mass destruction. Only Hades's selfish protection of theUnderworld's bottom line keeps him from going all out on Pit. Hades (New Legs) After being cut in half by the Great Sacred Tresure, Hades heads for the Surface world to regenerate his legs. Because this trick uses an immense number of souls, the usually invincible Hades suffers damage in the process.

Hades (Final) Mere moments after having his head crushed by Medusa, Hades returns

with Added by Captain Comet

Added by DJ Tune a new, fresh complexion. While he attacks Pit with renewed ferocity, it still isn't enough to withstand the assault of the Great Sacred Treasure. Hades's Belly Though called Hades's Belly, this strange place is in an entirely different dimension than Hades. So while it shares a link of sorts with the evil god, it seems that destruction inside the belly barely affects Hades himself.

The Myth of Persephone: Greek Goddess of the Underworld

Original Story and Interpretation by Laura Strong, PhD It was a beautiful day like all the others in this land, the sun shone brightly in the sky, the hills were lush and green, and flowers blossomed from the earth. The lovely young maiden, Persephone, frolicked with her friends upon the hillside, as her mother Demeter sat near by, and her father Zeus peered down from the sky above. Laughter could be heard in between the young girls' whispered secrets, as they gathered handfuls of purple crocuses, royal blue irises and sweet-smelling hyacinths. Persephone thought to bring some to her mother, but was soon distracted by a vision of the most enchanting flower she had ever seen. It was a narcissus, the exact flower her father hoped that she would find. As she reached down to pluck it from its resting place, her feet began to tremble and the earth was split in two. Life for Persephone would never be the same again. From this gaping crevice in the ground emerged the awe-inspiring God of the Underworld, Hades, and before Persephone could even think to utter a word, she was whisked off her feet onto t he God's golden chariot. As the crack of the whip upon his majestic horses brought her to her senses, she realized she was about to taken into the black depths from which he'd come. The thought of this brought terror to her heart, yet any screams of protest were soon lost within the darkness, as they descended quickly into the Underworld below. While Persephone's cries could not be heard above the ground, the pain in Demeter's heart quickly alerted her to the fact that something was terribly wrong. She searched high and low for her dear daughter, who had vanished from both the heavens and the earth. Consumed by depression over the loss of her child, she soon ceased to remember her worldly duties as Goddess of Grain and Growth. As she watched the plants wither and die all around her, she felt her own hopes begin to fade as well. At the same time, deep down in the realm of the dead, Hades hoped to explain his actions to the sweet Persephone. Professing his love, he told her of the plan her father helped deploy and begged her to stay and be his wife. Yet, Persephone longed for something more, the comforts of her mother's home and a view of the lush green grass and blue sky up above. Far above the darkness of the Underworld, her mother continued to wander the forl orn earth. Eventually she found her way to the town of Eleusis, where she rested by a flowing fountain. Stripped of all her vital energy, she appeared old and wrinkled beyond her years. Soon four young females found the aging Goddess, and agreed to take her home. Their parents were glad to offer the elderly woman lodging and a stable position caring for their little son. Wishing to reward the family for their kindness, Demeter attempted to offer the child the gift of immortality, by sticking him in the fire each night and removing him every morning before dawn. When the child's mother found him in the flames, she was horrified. Her mortal mind could not comprehend the actions of the Goddess, and she asked her to leave their home at once. This immediately brought back Demeter's fighting spirit, who surprised them by exposing her true self. The family begged the Goddess for forgive them and in return agreed to her demands: "A temple would be built in my honor, and you will teach the world my secret to immortali ty." Within no time, the town built a beautiful temple on the hillside, which the Goddess blessed before continuing on her journey.

Yet it didn't take long for Demeter's happiness to be replaced with rage, as she recalled the disappearance of her daughter. She flew to the home of Zeus and demanded that Persephone be found at once. She also questioned every immortal she could find and eventually uncovered Zeus' plot. In an attempt to appease Demeter's growing anger, he dispatched a messenger to retrieve thei r daughter from the depths. Upon his entry to the Underworld, the messenger Hermes was amazed at what he found. Instead of finding a frail and fearful Persephone, he found a radiant and striking Queen of the Dead. She had adjusted well to her new position, saying she had even found her calling. The Goddess was now in charge of greeting the new arrivals and helping them adapt to their new life. While she wished to see her mother up above, she was torn by her desire to remain Hades' wife. Hoping to comfort Persephone in her confusion, Hades came to his Queen's side. He gently kissed her forehead and urged her, "Do not fret, eat instead from this fruit I know you will like." As she pressed the red pomegranate seeds to her lips, she listened to his words. He told her he would miss her very much, but her duties as a daughter mattered too. So, she climbed into the chariot and bid her husband farewell, as Hermes sped them off to the middle realm of mother earth, the home of her devoted mother. The flowers sang joyfully of her return, while her mother beamed with pride. Yet, the child that she had born and raised had changed while she was gone. She had grown into a goddess, one both beautiful and wise and the more that Demeter inquired about her experiences below, the more she came to worry that the life they knew was gone. She recalled a declaration Zeus had made from the heavens up above: in order for Persephone to return to the home and life she had known, the young goddess must be as pure as the day she left her mother's side. However, the ruby stain upon her lips spoke of the beauty's fate. Persephone had tasted of the fruit of life. It could not be erased. Even so, Zeus loved his daughter too much to send her back to Hades without the hope of returning to her mother's abode above. So, each spring Persephone comes back with the flowers that pave her way, to tell the story of rebirth, hope and harmony. And each fall when she leaves again for the Underworld below, her mother mourns and winter comes, while she waits for her return. Yet, for Persephone there is no remorse. She looks forward to the time she spends as Hades' Queen and wife, and to guiding those who have lost their way to the next phase of their life.

Interpreting Persephone's Myth

The myth of Persephone is one of the oldest of all Greek myths. Her story is a personification of some of the most universal concepts about life and death. In her youth, Persephone represents the powerful bond between a mother and a daughter and the often difficult transition fr om maidenhood to marriage. As the Goddess of Springtime and Rebirth, she is eternally connected to the cycles of the earth, which lies barren in her absence and bloom again each spring with her return. And her initiatory experience in the realm of the dead is such a powerful experience that it changes her life forever. It is after this transformation that we remember her most for her role as the Greek Goddess of the Underworld. As the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone is often portrayed as a force to be f eared. In Homer's Iliad (written c. 750-725 BCE) she is described as "grim Persephone" in direct contrast to her husband Hades, the "mighty Zeus of the Underworld." In the Odyssey (written c. 743-713 BCE), she has become "dread Persephone" or the "awesome one," whom mortal men mistrust. We see this when Odysseus pays a visit

to the House of Death. He worries that the vision of his dead mother, which slips through his fingers and "dissolves like a dream," is just "some wraith that great Persephone sends my w ay to make me ache with sorrow all the more?" (11.244-45). But his noble mother answers: "This is no deception sent by Queen Persephone, this is just the way of mortals when we die" (11.248-249). Yet, when the dead surround him at the end of his visit, he still flees in fear that "Queen Persephone might send up from Death some monstrous head, some Gorgon's staring face!" (11.725-29). The Goddess receives similar treatment in Hesiod's (c. 700 BCE) Theogony where she is described as "awful Persephone," who is always at the side of "strong Hades." Neither of these classic works mentions anything about the life she led before becoming the Queen of the Dead or the radiant beauty that attracts Hades enough to want her for his bride. There are other stories that view Persephone in a more flattering light. The most famous of these is the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which was written by an unknown author sometime between 650 -550 BCE. The hymn describes Persephone in such complimentary terms as radiant, noble, and thought ful. The Greek lyric poet Bacchylides (c. 520-450 BCE) who, like the hymn, refers to the Goddess as "slenderankled" (Odes poem 5, line 55), echoes these same sentiments. The tragic playwright Euripedes (c. 480 406) also sees her in her full glory as "Persephone, fair young goddess of the netherworld" ("Orestes" line 960). In addition, he brings up the duality of her nature and her relationship with her mother when he refers to her as "the goddess of twofold name, Persephone and the kindly goddess Demeter [ ]" ("Phoenissae" line 680). Duality is a driving force in many renditions of Persephone's story. In her younger years she is often called Kore, the grain or corn maiden, yet once she has made the terrifying transition into womanhood she is mostly referred to as Persephone. She also plays a role as the winter Goddess of the Underworld, who cyclically changes into the springtime Goddess of Rebirth, which are two very different personifications of the same deity. Gnther Zuntz explains that "no farmer prayed for corn to Persephone;3 no mourner thought of the dead as being with Kore4" (77). Her duality is also seen as she plays a continuous role as the feminine counterpart to either her husband, Hades, or her mother, Demeter. Kernyi sees this double role in even more black and white terms when he says that: "One of her forms (daughter with mother) appears as life; the other (young girl with husband) as death" (107). The ability to integrate all these aspects of her dualistic life as wife and daughter, innocence and wisdom, death and rebirth are what makes Persephone such a powerful goddess. Other interpretations of her story focus on Persephone as one aspect of the Triple -goddess, a powerful feminine archetype where maiden, mother and crone are seen as one. While the three parts of this trinity are sometimes seen as Demeter, Kore and Persephone, many modern authors focus on Demeter and Persephone's relationship with the moon-goddess, Hecate. In the Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is the only one, besides the sun-god, Helios, to hear Persephone's cries during her abduction. When Persephone returns from the Underworld, Hecate vows to serve her as her "chief attendant." Some scholars, such as Patricia Monaghan, even go so far as to explain that: "The Greek world was divided into three parts, in honor of the Threefold goddess," with Hecate wandering the sky, Demeter ruling the surface of the earth, and Persephone ruling the world of the afterlife (252). While there may be some ancient clues to indicate that Persephone could have ventured down to Hades on her own, most versions portray the "abduction of Persephone" as a central part of her story. The earliest known artistic representation of her tale can be found on "a painted wine cup from Phaistos dating from the middle Minoan period (just before 2000 BCE)" that "shows two companions crying out while Kore disappears into the earth's chasm beside the 'flower of deception'" (Lincoln 169).

The flower that lures Persephone to her fate is the narcissus. According to Robert Graves, Persephone's narcissus, "also called leirion was the three-petalled blue fleur-de-lys or iris," which flowers in the fall at the time of her abduction and is sacred to the Triple-goddess (85.1). Yet most versions of the story, including the Hymn to Demeter, say that Persephone was wandering through an entire meadow of beautiful flowers including roses, crocuses, violets, irises and hyacinths, when the most lovely of them all caught her eye. It was the sweet-smelling narcissus with one hundred blooms, "a flower wondrous and bright, awesome to see, for the immortals above and for mortals below" (lines 10 -11). Enchanted by the beauty of the flower, Persephone is caught off guard when Hades suddenly emerges from the earth. As he whisks her away in his "golden four-horsed chariot," there is no doubt that anyone would cry out from such a startling event (March 312). Maybe it was the only way he knew to woo such a beautiful young goddess who had no reason to travel to his Underworld domain. There is also conflicting evidence as to who was actually there to witness Persephone's abduction. Helios and Hecate were the only names mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, but other versions say a water-nymph named Cyane was there and tried to stop the proceedings. Yet one thing is certain, once Persephone is determined to be missing, Demeter is driven to despair. During Persephone's absence, Demeter looses all interest in her duties as the Goddess of Agriculture. Some stories say she roamed the earth in search of her daughter for nine days, and others mention a nine month hiatus. In the Hymn to Demeter, it isn't until after she has traveled to Eleusis that Persephone's mother is finally overcome with such rage and depression that: "For mortals she ordained a terrible and brutal year on the deeply fertile earth. The ground released no seed, for bright -crowned Demeter kept it buried" (lines 305-307). In any case, the barren landscape is what sets the stage for Persephone to return again each spring as the Goddess of Rebirth. Persephone's reunion with her mother is bittersweet. She has consumed the fruit of the dead, either on her own accord or as a trick of Hades. In any case, she has been transformed and will be forced to stay at least part of each year in his domain. Most stories say she stays there for three months every winter, at which time Demeter mourns and lets the earth go bare. Other stories tell of a six month absence in the Underworld. Either way, life for the young goddess will never be the same. Persephone is now a wife and Queen, who has been initiated into the mysteries of the Underworld. Bruce Lincoln believes that "at some point in prehistory, probably prior to the arrival of the Indo Europeans in Greek regions (ca. 1800 B.C.?), a ritual resembling that described in the myth was actually performed for some or all women in these regions upon their arriving at puberty" (167). As the Greek population grew and moved towards the cities, there was a decline in initiatory rites of passage into adulthood. The ancient puberty initiations were modified to become elite Mystery initiations, which with the rise of democratic ideals eventually became accessible to the entire population, except barbarians and murderers. The Eleusinian Mysteries, which focus on the tale of Demeter and Persephone, were the best known of all ancient Greek initiatory rites. For centuries they have been studied in the hopes of gaining insight into their immortal lessons. Contemporary psychologist James Hillman believes that: "Aspects of the psychological mystery of Eleusis still take place in the soul today. The Persephone experience occurs to us each in sudden depressions, when we feel ourselves caught in hatefulness, cold, numbed, and drawn downward out of life by a force we cannot see, against which we would flee" (49). While a strict code of secrecy has revealed very little information about the actual experience, there are many records of the transformative power of the initiation. "Reliable ancient testimony tells that the Mysteries guaranteed a

better life and a different and probably better fate after death" (Foley 70). The words of the Greek lyric poet Pindar (c. 518-438) "tells us that 'blessed is he who has seen this and thus goes beneath the earth; he knows the end of life, he knows the beginning given by Zeus'" (Foley 70). Another great mystery surrounding the story of Persephone is whether she was just swept away by Hades or actually raped. A clue to solving this discrepancy may be found by examining the transition that occurs in her story as it is translated from Greek to Latin. There is no mention of rape in any of the early Greek texts, but we start to see its introduction with the coming of the Romans near the turn of the century. According to the research of Bruce Lincoln, all Greek sources describing Hades' action use the verb harpazein, meaning "to seize, snatch, carry off," which connotes thievery and violence, but does not imply rape. In later Latin translations of the texts the word raptu is used instead, which does imply "abduction, seizure, rape" (Lincoln 168). The Greek travel-writer Pausanius from the second century CE mentions the rape of Persephone numerous times in his ten book series, the Description of Greece. The concept of Persephone's rape is also covered extensively in the footnotes of the Library (Bibliotheca), which was written in the 1st or 2nd century CE, yet attributed to the earlier Greek scholar Appolodorus (c. 180-120 BCE). The Library also contains a second version of Persephone's story that suggests she may have never been abducted in the first place, but was instead born in Hades to her prolific father Zeus and the Underworld goddess Styx (bk.1, ch. 3, sect. 1). During this same period, we see many indications of the demise of this proud and powerful Greek goddess. According to Appolodorus' Library, Persephone does not even live in Hades, but in Tartarus. To the Greeks, this is "a dark and horrible region far below the earth" (March 367). She no longer dwells in the home of the ancestors and mighty warriors from the past, but in the gloomiest part of Hades, where evildoers are condemned to stay forever. The stories of Appolodorus also portray Persephone as less than proud in her actions. It is the first time we hear of Persephone's squabbles with Aphrodite. Their friendship is torn apart over a beautiful baby named Adonis. Aphrodite is so enchanted with the child that she steals him for herself and hides him in a chest that she leaves in Persephone's care. Curious, Persephone peeks into the box and decides to claim the child for own. The conflict then goes before Zeus, who decides that Adonis should spend part of the year with each goddess. Most versions of the tale say the time is equally split between the two, yet other portrayals say he spends a third of the year with each goddess and a third of the year on his own to recover from them both. I think the time has come for Persephone to regain her dignity as the great Goddess of the Underworld. Other scholars are also working to restore the original stories of the los t and ancient goddesses. Help may even be on the way from another synchronistic source. Archeologists and other researchers are continuously digging up new information from the past. An example of this is the return of the Hymn to Demeter, which was lost for hundreds of years until it turned up again in a stable in Moscow in 1777. Other findings may one day help the credibility of the stories that portray Persephone in all her feminine glory. One of these ancient stories was able to open my own eyes to the positive power of Persephone. The tale was put together by Charlene Spretnak while she was researching the Pre -Hellenic goddess myths. The story is unique because there is no mention of the Goddess' abduction into the Underworld, but what really caught my attention was the idea of Persephone as a psychopomp. While Greek philosophers such as Sophocles and Plato have acknowledged Persephone as a "welcomer of the dead," most myths do not tell this aspect in her story. In Spretnak's version of the myth, Perseph one explains to her mother that there are spirits who "drift about restlessly" and "hover around their earthly homes" because they do not understand their state. She then volunteers to go down to the Underworld and initiate them into their new life. While at first resisting Persephone's desire, Demeter comes to understand her motives

and leads her to "a long, deep chasm and produces a torch for Her to carry." When Persephone finally arrives in the Underworld, she stands on a rock, with her torch, a vase of her mother's grain, and a large bowl of "pomegranate seeds, the food of the dead." As her aura increases in "brightness and warmth," she introduces herself as Queen of the Dead, and explains to the spirits that they have left their earthly bodies. She then beckons "those nearest to step up onto the rock and enter Her aura," where she embraces them, looks into their eyes, feeds them pomegranate seeds, and offers them a blessing for renewed "tranquility and wisdom" (111-116). Persephone, the ancient Goddess of the Afterlife, still has much to teach us all today. If we listen carefully to her story, we may even be able to regain some of the ancient knowledge that was lost with the last Eleusinian initiate. Persephone still possesses the power to help us discove r the wisdom within that was able to convince many Greeks that "death is not an evil but something good" (Foley 71).