I don't know why Hades is often described as evil by most modern accounts. Even though I love Disney, they have sure been dedicated in the smearing of Hades' name. By any means, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are equal, and played an equally important part in overthrowing the Titans and securing the rule of the Olympians. They just rule over different parts of the world. Just because he rules over the Underworld doesn't mean that he is particularly evil. He's not killing people, he's just putting them where they should be after they die. The Underworld is not Hell, all souls just dwell there peacefully except for the ones that are awful. The extremely good even gets sent to Elysium, which is a place where they enjoy the utmost happiness. Which means that 'Heaven' is also under Hades' rule.
Hades doesn't really have that many evil stories in Greek mythology. He is cunning, but mainly because he doesn't like people stealing his subjects away from him. Which, can you blame him? He wanted dead people to remain dead. In fact, I think he's the best husband out of the three major gods. He cheated so much less and has great love for his queen. Ironically, one of the most popular stories in the modern world that is used to paint Hades in an evil light is how he kidnapped his wife, Persephone.
Hades, the God of the Underworld, rarely stepped foot outside of the land that he ruled. But one day, when he visited the land of the living, a beautiful maiden in the spring fields caught his eyes. He instantly fell in love with Persephone and was determined to make her his wife so he went to Zeus with this request.
Zeus is the father of Persephone and the ruler of all gods. But he only secured his position by overthrowing his father and the Titans with the help of his siblings, one of them being Hades. He had promised Hades one of his daughters in marriage, a promise he agreed to honor. As you can see, Hades had intended to honorably ask for the hand of Persephone. It's not like he saw a beautiful woman and decided, "hey, I'm going to kidnap her!"
But Zeus knew that Persephone's mother, Demeter, would never agree to let her precious daughter spend the rest of her life in the bleak Underworld, so he helped Hades come up with a sneaky plan. Zeus' involvement in Persephone's kidnapping is usually neglected, talk about bias. Let's be clear, the almighty Zeus was the one who suggested the kidnapping of his own daughter. I don't have a problem with Zeus by the way. He's done great things, he just doesn't seem to be the best family man. I guess that's why he married Hera, the Goddess of family and marriage. Perhaps they complement each other.
Demeter is the Goddess of harvest, and Persephone would always be by her side as they tend to the fields together. Zeus helped Hades create a plan to lure Persephone away with beautiful flowers and kidnap her when she was out of her mother's sight.
At first, Persephone could hardly get used to the lifelessness of the Underworld, the stark opposite of the eternal spring that she was familiar with. But with the help and company of the goddess Hecate, she gradually grew accustomed to the scene. Hades also built beautiful gardens for her in the Underworld and treated her with love and respect. As she saw this other side of Hades that no one else has seen, she slowly fell in love with him, too.
Meanwhile, Demeter was outraged and heartbroken to find her daughter missing. As both punishment and means to more efficiently help find her daughter, she turned the nymphs that were supposed to be looking after Persephone into harpies, grotesque creatures with the upper body of a woman but the wings and claws of a bird. She roamed the Earth in search of her daughter and gave up on taking care of the fields.
The crops began to wither, and animals died. Even Zeus could not mitigate the damages caused by the wrath of Demeter. If the Goddess of harvest did not return to her post, soon the world would perish. Out of options, Zeus tried to make Hades return Persephone but convinced Demeter that Persephone should make the final decision.
When Hades caught wind of the news, he was extremely worried that Persephone would choose to leave him, so he gave her a pomegranate. It was believed that if someone ate food given to them by their captor, they would always return to that person. Some say that it is because Persephone had eaten 6 pomegranate seeds, that she is forced to remain in the Underworld for 6 months each year. But by most accounts, Persephone and Hades are truly in love. To Demeter's great dismay, when Zeus and Demeter arrived in the Underworld, Persephone chose to remain in the Underworld with Hades. This was unacceptable to Demeter, and she threatened to never make the earth fertile again if her daughter does not return. Zeus finally mediated the conflict by deciding that Persephone will spend half of the months in the Underworld with her husband and the other half in the land of the living with her mother.
In the months that her daughter is by her side, Demeter would be joyful, they would take care of the crops together, and the land would flourish; in the months that her daughter is away, Demeter would abandon her duties, the crops would shrivel, and the lands would dry up. This was how the Ancient Greeks explained the seasons.
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