Mr Zoat, I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm well aware that I'm merely a reader enjoying reading this work, and you are free to write it however you like. You can write a character and we can disagree about the significance of their actions without stopping you from enjoying the writing and me from the reading of it. I'm aiming for something friendly. That said, here are some notes:
So, as an example, you can write Persephone as being weak-willed, and as other commenters have said, we can interpret her actions as indications of other things. I'm fortunate not to have personally experienced this situation or a close analogue, but I have read credible accounts that I would interpret to mean that pretending that everything is as it should be, not letting on how you really feel and giving up the game when faced with unspeakable choices, enduring, when slipping up can have terrifying consequences, takes tremendous fortitude and level-headedness. This isn't only in the realm of coercive relationships, but also for people in espionage, statecraft, resistance movements, and other endeavours.
https://forum.questionablequesting....i-thread-fourteen.8938/page-1731#post-5542990
Belief is not reality. Persephone did believe that. That didn't make it true. It wasn't true. The reality is that Persephone could have said 'no' at any time. Or just said 'let me just talk to my mother really quickly'. Her being weak-willed doesn't make Hades a criminal.
You realize that that works the other way around too? And Hades probably comes off worse in that. Perception doesn't make it real? Okay.
Persephone believed that Hades expected her to be his wife in all ways (actually true), and that there would be severe consequences if she failed in that role (in terms of sex, apparently not, as far as we know, but still up in the air as far as actually ceasing to be his wife - and Paul believes that it's credible enough that he's advocating against divorce). As a result, she went along with what he said he wanted even though she did not want to and quite likely would not have freely consented to if asked.
According to Hephaestus, and you, Hades believed he did the proper thing and talked to Zeus to have him talk to his daughter and her mother about whether he could marry his niece. He trusted Zeus to do right by his daughter and her mother and actually give permission for the marriage with their knowledge and consent, and everything that went with that.
He believed that Zeus was trustworthy and he didn't need to verify this with Persephone or her mother… As a result he believed that Persephone was fine with and consented to the marriage and sex. Neither of these were true. Let me say that again. He believed that the thing that makes it not rape - the consent of his partner - existed. "That didn't make it true. It wasn't true." And he bears substantial responsibility for putting her in that situation, as well as not taking seriously enough the possibility that the situation could exist (see, not establishing a relationship of trust). He also had less reason to believe that false belief than Persephone had reason to believe that it would be dangerous to refuse Hades.
Both of them could have cleared up that mismatch between belief and reality. The cost to each for the attempt to do so as measured by a reasonable expectation of consequences for someone in their position would be phenomenally lower for Hades than Persephone's terrifying heights. So what makes Hades' false belief less a fault than Persephone's false belief exactly? You seem to have placed more weight on Persephone's failure to trust that Hades would take a no (against reason) than Hades failure to verify a yes (when Zeus, so trustworthy about establishing consent, is saying what he wants to hear). You say that checking himself would imply that Zeus lied to him, with implied consequences for the insult. There is such a thing as discretion. And when he's got Persephone in his domain, who is going to know? There's time between getting some privacy and getting married and consummating the marriage.
All that said, I found these chapters quite interesting. We don't actually know what Hades actually thinks currently about his marriage and Persephone from his mouth. Persephone fears him, but may not need to. Paul and Hephaestaean are concerned that a divorce will "blow up in our faces", though, from what Hephaestus said back in Grind, he doesn't actually know but really doesn't want to guess wrong due to the possible magnitude of the consequences, but I don't know that either of them have actually talked with him about the possibility. I still hope that Hades in all his years as a judge has learned some things and come to some realizations about ways you can treat someone who you love but doesn't love you back, and moreover, finds being stuck married to you …unhealthy? stressful? dispiriting? A situation that you might not actually wish for your beloved? Now that Zeus and Hera's positions are different, perhaps he can think of a better arrangement that both he and Persephone can live with.
I look forward to the coming chapters.
