Is Zagreus in Hades 2? Answered

In Hades 2, you play as Melinoe, sister to Zagreus, the protagonist of the first game, Hades. In all the leadup to the early access release, Zag himself was noticeably absent from any marketing material, and Supergiant was tight-lipped about his presence. So is Zagreus even in Hades 2? Let’s discuss.

Do You Meet Zagreus in Hades 2?

Spoiler alert: While the answer to if Zagreus is in Hades 2 comes very early, if you want to stay completely spoiler free, stop reading now.

The central narrative pillar of Hades 2 is revenge. Melinoe, who is Zagreus’s younger sister by some unstated but no doubt lengthy period, is supposedly the last of her line. Her father, Hades, mother, Persephone, and brother Zagreus have either been killed, imprisoned or met some other horrid fate at the hands of Cronos, the Titan of Time. Cronos is also Hades’s father, though that’s another matter.

The only physical mention of Zagreus in Hades 2 is a poster in Melinoe’s room showing her family shortly after her birth. Hades, Persephone, and Zag are all beaming at little Melinoe in her swaddling cloth. Every time you visit the painting, the prompt is “Brood,” and most dialog that comes when you look is some variation of “remember what he (Cronos) took from you.”

So the implication is that Hades, Persephone, and Zagreus are dead. However, back when Hades 2 was announced, we instead saw the god himself in chains. That doesn’t mean Cronos didn’t take his time before killing his son, of course.

What Can You Expect from Hades 2 Story?

If I were to put money on it, Hades 2 would structurally somewhat follow its predecessor. Defeating Cronos (or whoever the final boss is) will only be the first part of the story. Things are bound to become significantly more complicated once the second act begins.

Things are quite a bit different in Hades 2, as well. Where in the first game, Zagreus and his kin on Olympus communicated across a great distance, and his relation to Hades was hidden from them, here, Melinoe and the Olympians are on much closer terms. Hell, Artemis herself makes a physical appearance in the first world of the game before granting her boon personally — a grand departure from the first Hades, where no gods but those of the Underworld appear to meet you.

I have another feeling about Hades 2: it will be bigger in scope, both narratively and from a gameplay perspective. Some of the gods from the first game are returning, but there are a host of new ones as well, plus some additions I didn’t see coming, like Cronos’s Titan siblings. There are also two routes: below to the Underworld and above, to what I assume is the mortal world where Cronos’s faithful do battle.

We might also get to see Olympus itself, as the gods there seem to be more than occupied keeping their progenitor busy. One of the big story beats early on is keeping Melinoe’s actions in the Underworld under wraps that Cronos and his cronies leave her well alone.

That’s a long way of saying that, right now, Zagreus isn’t physically present in Hades 2, but I do think he’ll make a full appearance at some point. In the meantime, we have lots of the game’s plot to enjoy.

Read more about the game in our Hades 2 guide hub.