Thanatos is the best encounter in all of Hades

Over time, play Hell becomes a ritual – there is a cadence to move around the underworld and beat the same enemies over and over again. You start to expect things to work a certain way, especially after hours of playing. So when the game suddenly darkens at the sound of a distant bell, it sounds eerie.

You’ve never seen this before, and by this point you’ve probably put many hours into the game. What’s going on? And then it appears: death incarnate, scythe in hand. Thanatos. Oh shit, you might think. Who is it? Am I going to have to fight it? I am not prepared for this! But just as you mentally prepare for a donkey whooping cough, he hits you with surprising dialogue.

“You left, without even saying goodbye to me,” he said. “I guess you knew I would catch up with you sooner or later, right?” No escape from death, and all?

I came to Hell late so by the time I met Thanatos, I had already been exposed to a lot of expedition and fan art on social media. I took Thanatos’ rebuke as the words of an abandoned lover who was pissed off that Zagreus, the protagonist, was trying to leave him behind. Spice!

Supergiant Games Creative Director Greg Kasavin told Polygon that the dialogue was not meant to mean the two had an existing romantic relationship prior to the events of the game, although that could develop over time. Zagreus, Kasavin said in a phone interview, “didn’t have a lot of friends,” with the exception of Thanatos when he was growing up. But Zagreus’ attempts to escape are a “catalyst for the intensification of their feelings,” he said.

But however you interpret this introduction, it is evocative. Although it is only a few lines, you get the feeling that there is the story there, and Zagreus has a little reason to feel guilty.

“A good story is one that makes you imagine it, far more than there is in the story itself,” Kasavin says. The subtext in this case is more powerful than the actual text. But Thanatos isn’t just memorable because of a few lines. It’s what happens next that really seals the deal. Every time you meet a new character in the field, you are preparing for a fight. Except in this case Thanatos appears, chastises you for being a fool, then challenges you to a competition. No other in-game encounter works this way.

Technically, he’s there to help you defeat the wave of enemies that Hades, your father, sends you. But the game also keeps track of how many enemies Zagreus kills against Thanatos. And when the battle begins, the stakes are high – Thanatos is a beast.

“He’s just dealing with the classic 9999 Final Fantasy [damage]Kasavin said. Worse yet, it can be an area of ​​effect that simply causes enemies to disappear. Following the god of death is no easy task. Sometimes you do. And other times Thanatos wipes the floor with Zagreus.

Whatever happens, however, the dynamic between the two remains juicy and charged. You want to beat this guy, but also, maybe you want to kiss this guy. There is something inherently hot and daring about trying to show death itself.

Thanatos, Kasavin said, was one of the first characters they put into the game, and one that changed the least during development. Part of what made it exciting, he said, was that there was little myth existing regarding Thanatos, which left the Supergiant team with fertile ground to build on. What we do know is that Thanatos is meant to be a “peaceful death,” which is why the team brought in voice actor Chris Saphire to portray a “softer” version of the Reaper.

To meet him, the player must reach Elysium, Realm of Champions, which is one of the last parts of Hell. The other prerequisite is to beat Meg the Fury enough times for her sisters to start appearing as well. The idea, Kasavin said, is that Meg has failed her job enough times for Hades to call for reinforcements, so word of Zagreus’ escape attempts gets to Thanatos. But there’s also only a 50% chance that Thanatos will appear during a run, which means some fans may take a long time to meet him. While potentially frustrating, the scarcity is intentional.

“From a gameplay perspective, the thing that was really exciting was this idea that this character could just run into you at any time,” Kasavin said. “Because normally with the structure of the game you go from room to room and you know what to expect, right?” Because you choose your reward. “

“But with a rogue-like game,” he continued later in the conversation, “you want that there to be that variety, you don’t want it to become too predictable.” Kasavin said the team is looking to the second Lord of the Rings movie, The two towers, which presents a contest between Gimli and Legolas, as inspiration for the meeting with Thanatos.

Whatever the outcome of the fight, Thanatos will say something brooding and then disappear. He can show up again in other races, but there is never any guarantee. Part of that design choice comes from Supergiant’s larger attempt to portray characters who have a life beyond that of the protagonist. But it’s also just an efficient device that leaves fans wondering.

“We conveniently gave him his teleport ability in an instant so he could just go up in the air and leave conversations hanging,” Kasavin said. The player wants more because at all times Thanatos makes you feel like there is “an unfinished business with him.”

So it’s no surprise that Zagreus and Thanatos are the most popular couple in the fandom. Hell, I would go so far as to say Thanatos is one of the most memorable encounters I’ve ever had in a video game. No small feat, given how quickly Thanatos instills a sense of attraction and mystique in Hell.

“I suspected the players would somehow get attached to him,” Kasavin said.