So, I was talking to @avionvadion and asked if I should share details in the new JP birthday card for Idia that can be interpreted as nods or references to myths concerning Hades and Persephone’s relationship or retellings of myths about them. I got a yes, so here I go! I’m using screenshots from the translation Valkyrii on YouTube did.
Valkyrii translated it as fantasy but the word used is in JP is “romance” because romance can sometimes be a fill in word for fantasy vibes. While Hades and Persephone’s marriage was not romantic at all and basically the Ancient Greek equivalent a surprise arranged marriage sprung on Persephone, Hades is the only one in the Greek pantheon to give his wife equal power to himself and they seem to have one of the healthier relationship of the married deities in the Greek pantheon. Out of the Disney villains, Hades is one of three, who in the original base story is/was married.
This is a reference to why Persephone has to go back to Hades for 6 months of the year. Those who are tied to the Underworld or eat the food of the Underworld are either stuck there permanently or have to return every so often. Quite a few retellings nowadays explain that the return happens because if Hades or Persephone don’t return to the Underworld every so often, they start suffering negative effects of being away from the Underworld.
Idia’s birthday is in Winter, when Persephone is in the Underworld and Demeter makes it cold because she misses her daughter. This could also be interpreted as a nod to this part of “Chant” from Hadestown.
“In the coldest time of year,
Why is it so hot down here?
Hotter than a crucible
It ain't right and it ain't natural”
In Hadestown, while it’s freezing up on the surface, Hadestown is warm due to Hades trying to make the Underworld more comfortable to Persephone, so she’ll stay with him longer and not leave.
Now, this, if intentional, is a very clever nod to the Hades and Persephone myth. While this could be referencing Styx, it could also be a reference to Cyane.
Cyane was naiad who was Persephone’s playmate and with Persephone when Hades abducted her. In some versions, when she tried to intervene and stop him, Hades turned her into a pool of water, while in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, when Cyane failed to stop Hades, she mourned and wept so much she dissolved into a pool of water from her tears.
This likely is a nod to the story of Theseus and Pirithous. While Theseus is primarily known for the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, but Pirithous is known for primarily this story.
Basically, Theseus and Pirithous decide to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus decides to marry Helen of Troy (who is like 10-12 at the time depending on who you ask…) and kidnaps her with the plan to marry her when she’s old enough to get married. Meanwhile, Pirithous decides he’s going to marry Persephone. So they go to Underworld to find Persephone and kidnap her from Hades so she can be Pirithous’s wife and Hades… takes issue with this.
Depending on the tale, it can change, but the one I’m most familiar with is Hades greeting Theseus and Pirithous and inviting them to sit at his banquet tablet. The minute their butts touch the seats, they are rooted to their chairs and Hades has the Furies torture them for trying to steal his wife. Fun fact: Later on, when Hercules goes into the Underworld to borrow Cerberus for one of his labors, he finds Theseus and Pirithous and frees Theseus from his chair, but when he goes to touch Pirithous, the whole Underworld shakes as a warning to not free him.
This is the summon line when you pull Idia. As mentioned earlier if you eat the food of the Underworld, you are bound to it. For Persephone, it’s only for a few months, usually 6, but for mortals, usually it’s permanent. When Psyche goes to the Underworld to get the box of beauty from Persephone, she has to refuse all offers of food or drink from Hades so she’s not trapped there permanently.
Lastly, the groovy image!
Idia has a pomegranate on his plate. This is the biggest nod to the myth of Hades and Persephone as that is the fruit Hades offers to Persephone to bind her so she has to return to him for part of the year.
Just sooo many references! Ah! My little Greek myth nerd heart is all aflutter!!!
