This is going to become a bit of a rant, fair warning. But why is it that so many Prometheus fans I see every so often are so...misogynistic and write off his character flaws to juxtapose him as a moral superior to Melinoë? Or worse yet directly villainize her when they're both arguably equally influenced by their environments and relationships with mortals?
Like. Okay. Prometheus is pro-mortal, yes, but I've never seen anyone acknowledge his lack of humanization towards people. Not mortalkind. Not mortals. Humankind. People. The connotation there matters.
I think a lot of his fans are outright uncomfortable with acknowledging that his view of mortals is more of an idealized image born of his own martyrdom for them. They were his creation, and thus shared victimhood with him and his family. But there's the thing. He shares victimhood with mortals but only ever sees them in that same position. They are perpetual victims before they are individuals. Just as he is a perpetual victim of his circumstances with the gods.
Martyrdom as an action for Prometheus required him to brush broad strokes. He's only ever interacted with mortals and their lives post-jar for a short, short while. And that's a generous assumption. He is aware of mortal suffering and their ability to strive, but has he ever bothered to interact with mortals who live under such circumstances? Within Hades II canon, he's almost single minded in his rage. In his fixation on vengeance.
So fixated we get no acknowledgement of the limited capacity he interacts with mortals of now or those with mortal blood. Icarus getting chased off by Aetos? Sure he's a shade, but doesn't that seem like a glaring contradiction to what he wants? Do mortals not earn his concern if they work with the Gods? When he himself despises how the Gods fooled them into worship? If mortals are so meaningful, why is Aetos out here doing that? If mortals are so meaningful, why brush off Dionysus' importance to their ability to cope with the evils brought about via societal pressures and structure? Why call him more beast than God, when he is undoubtedly more attuned to people than he will ever be. Not just by proxy of his upbringing, but of his very birth?
And to Melinoë, to whom he has deep knowledge about as a result of his abilities, why is she only ever a God to him? Because she stands in his way?
We see Melinoe doesn't positively acknowledge her own mortal blood, but that she still holds the capacity to interact with mortals in a positive albeit naive light. The recent interactions she has with Icarus where she equivocates Gods and mortals is telling. To her, mortals are lacking in self control and sense. But that doesn't remove their personhood to her. It's just an inverse of how Prometheus's idealism works. Broad strokes.
And I just wholly despise sometimes how people will assume that Prometheus is the pushing force to how she treats mortals. She cared for Icarus and sacrificed her arm for him before the name Prometheus ever entered a conversation in her life. She seeks to comfort Arachne and love her thus, knowing she was so wronged and listening to her stories and respecting her space, night after night. We see that she hesitates to hurt Dora when she requests wanting her memories back, and that she's sympathetic to Dora as is. Because she always had the capacity to sympathize with and love mortals.
Prometheus hasn't had this yet. I think if anything, there's a bit of objectification to how he views mortals. Even Heracles, in the recent update. Those nicknames are silly, sure, but they both reduce each other to their roles. Flame Thief and... the first time Prometheus even utters the word "man" in this entire game, it's towards Heracles. "Big man". Because that is simply all he is to anyone, including Prometheus. Just as Prometheus is "Flame thief" to everyone, including Heracles. Their alliance is born out of a shared idealism and goal— convenience. Prometheus echoes this sentiment with Chronos as well- that shared ideals are enough, respect or forgiveness aren't remotely part of an equation to him.
It really brings into question if he would truly care for mortalkind if they weren't his. If he was never wronged for them, and someone else were, would he truly hold them in such a high regard? Would he even bother to interact with them in the same scale that Melinoë does? Is he a father to his children, or is he a artist pedestaling the ideals of a work he preserved and thus punished for?
Okay rant over. Sorry. You guys should go read @/sleepylabs fics by the way they restored my faith on a lot of these points by giving us those interactions Hades II sorely lacks. Mind you this is all within the scope of Hades II canon. No headcanons, just what we have and know.
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