With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Plot twisteroo: memory wiped Hades looses all interest in her while she falls in love

 

by

 

Thankfully, they are gods and not telepaths... cause Persephone reading Paul's mind would have been awkward. Now, I know that I was one of the first to say that Paul would have gone through the "memory erasing" tactic. But I just thought... did Paul request help to the Goddess of marriage & divorce Hera? Or is it going to be afterwards, as couple counseling when / if they try to mend the relationship.

 

I wonder what the chances Hades falls out of love with her due to this are?
Edit: ninja'd

 

Honestly I’d rather Persephone stick to her guns on this one.

 

I feel bad for both Hades and Persephone. I hope this works out in the end so both gods can have some semblance of a happy ending.

 

I feel like this is the most likely outcome.

 

Honestly any outcome other than back at status quo would be better for both of them in the long term.

That said I've found it fascinating how much the situation bothers me. Persephone is a victim but her never telling Hades makes her bear a responsibility too but her fear of doing so was correct for her time and local but Hades never would have deliberately raped her but it doesn't change how she felt about it but... Aaarg!

Actually... Best outcome would be Hades realizing that he's in love with someone that Persephone either isn't anymore or never was, just like she hates a guy that he wasn't or hasn't been for millenniums. Sad, but healthier.

 

Gotta say, I love the idea of her starting to like Hades, and Hades not being as interested anymore. That'd be amusing. They get the divorce, and it ends with unhappiness on both sides.

came?

And that just made me burst out laughing. In my home, in my bedroom, where none can see.

But that'd have been great. Hopefully she started her war with the House of Windsor, and gave up soon after.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Indeed, it seems she has quite definite objections to the 'memory-erasure' plan, then. But, that was the first draft of a possible resolution, of course. No doubt OL's hammered things into a workable plan by now.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Honestly, I doubt her and Hades being in any proximity would be a good idea right now. She might well decide 'screw it, in for an Obol, in for a Talent.' and attack him outright.

...Sadly true. On the other hand, him admitting it might well soften her anger a little through surprise.

And seeing his mother in this state probably isn't doing wonders for his emotional state either...

Ah, the antici-...

...-pation! And a good answer. While she might have been able to do some damage to England if you'd said that, Themyscira is protected by her seniors.

And neatly summarised. It does just go a little way to explain her feelings of powerlessness, too.

Sadly, he doesn't take 'no' for an answer in this kind of thing. Not until you're properly informed, anyway.

...I'm guessing Hera's already said she's not getting anywhere near this big ball of Trouble.

Well, if you weren't so good at doing it that quickly, maybe people wouldn't expect overnight miracles from you.

Not unless you want a peach-tree branch somewhere intimate.

I can't believe people keep forgetting that detail... Old Sparky has a lot to answer for. And now he's off the throne, perhaps some of that karma will be coming back on his ass.

I expect that'll be an easier task. Definitely less yelling, certainly.

Well, that calmed her down something nicely. I guess she thought Hades wouldn't be taking any part in this plan...

So, sort of a dating sim 'New Game Plus' option. All their relationship data gets reset to zero, instead of the woefully lopsided love/hate position it is now...

I expect Persephone'll be quizzing her son about all this now. Not that Zagreus will likely have many answers.

No Melinoë? Or is she playing the neutral party in this, as the middle child?

Even if they don't always go smoothly. There were a few dicey moments back there.

The benefit of hindsight, of course.

That's the plan, lover-boy. Just... Don't be too pushy, or come on too strong, and you should be fine... (Fingers crossed.)

Ah, see, there's an intelligent question. What's the win condition? The failure condition?

Yes. It may hurt to think that it could happen, but don't fool yourself into thinking this is guaranteed to go well.

What if... She decides later that maybe, it wasn't so bad with Hades? She's lived as she's had for thousands of years. What life would she make for herself without that central fact?

Life is risk, Hades. Nothing can be perfect.

Yeah. Is Hecate sure that it will only affect the selected memories? That it will wear off? The last thing anyone needs is a Hades back in his... Would it be fair to call it 'teenage' days... just after the Titanomachy?

On the upside, his agreement should make her more likely to consider doing it.

And so the groundwork is laid, then. Will this succeed, when it's all said and done? That's up to Hades, I think. If he can resist playing the swaggering, callow youth with Persephone and actually treat her like a woman and not a prize (as Zeus so often seemed to with his conquests,) perhaps they'll have a shot of reconciling. At any rate, things should get quite... Interesting... once things are underway.

---

Making it as if your relationship to date hadn't happened for as long as the spell is in effect."

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Came up with

Yeah, this sounds much better morally, just about as I expected, and we still might get a reset!Paul-with-enlightenment-and-snek-soul

 

Given the current situation and the previous talks about consent, this statement you just made is very disturbing.

There's also the possibility that even if she does fall in love with him during the memory erasure, she may still choose to want a divorce after she regains her memories.

Yeah, if things were different then they'd may have had a better relationship, but at this point her fear and hatred of him has been going in for thousands of years, so she may not want to have anything to do with him.

Now I'm reminded of a Grim Adventures episode where Billy's parents are reverted to being kids.

I doubt Hades will be swaggering.

He's far more likely to be incredibly stern.

 

Jeeze, this hits me in the heart and God only know why. I hope they can work it out, and if not I hope they both go can move on.

 

In England's defence, Paul was much less callous when he identified with England over Themyscira.

Although that may well be because of the orange light.

 

To make this the most unbiased experiment, would they put Hades and Persephone in a magical dream simulator of ancient Greece or something? Or give the theoretical memory-wiped versions any context? Even knowing that their memories have been taken away seems like a big factor for characters who value their mental autonomy (which is most)- Hades might not care since he was into Persephone before, but she probably might.

If the DC versions drew from pre-Classical depictions of the gods involved, where Persephone was a much bigger deal than Hades or at least her Classical self, I wonder how things would play out.

I'd previously wondered how Indigo Paul would handle the situation, and now I wonder about what Renegade would do (Actually, what's up with the nascent Titan of technology in the Renegade timeline? Because I feel like he might just Awaken Hardware to bond with it or something. I forget if Ritchie Simpson accelerated the process somehow).

Of course, Renegade has far less attachment to the Hellenic gods, but he's also more familiar love, both being in it and the heartbreak of rejection that comes about due to fundamental miscommunications, so even if it's super unlikely, I can't help but wonder what he would do.

Did anyone ask Metis or Athena for their input? Susanoo's also explicitly introduced as a god of marriage and love in this or the previous segment, so that seems like a potential narrative hint (though now I wouldn't mind seeing him and Hera get together or something, though I believe he's already married to the maiden he rescued from Yamato-no-Orochi).

People have pointed out the probably orange light-induced myopia of Paragon regarding this, but remembering his reactions both to Diana's case recently (Hippolyta's too) and Koriand'rs much more amicable potential arranged marriage situation earlier on, really hammers that point home.

 

Everyone realizes that the end of all this is going to have both Persephone and Hades (with locked memories) falling in love with Paul, right?

 

I'm sort of thinking that her take on this is something close to "I've seen more than enough nightmares to know to stay far away from this crap."

 

This version of Hades is a real stand up guy.

 

So. Is Eris going to cock this up with some sort of aphrodisiac in their food?
Persephone: “Yes we’re still getting divorced, but I am likely with child again.”
Hades: “How…? How do Aphrodite’s manipulations reach so far?”

Alternatively we might get to see Persephone hit on her own son!

 

Eh, Zoat!Hades has his high points, though they can be counted on one hand, what with the baseline of JusticeLeague!Hades that Zoat started from.

Still nowhere near as pleasant as SupergiantGames!Hades, and with a less impressive beard to boot.

Mr Zoat , does Zoat!Hades even have a beard? I can't recall any recent mentions of Hades current appearance.

 

Yes. I think I linked to a picture in one of his early appearances.

 

I'm now picturing 'teenaged' hades riding up in a chariot decorated with flowers and serenading her with a cheesy love-song.

"Hey man, her laughing in your face wasn't the worst first impression you could have made."
Its better than her being terrified, right?

 

I just thought of a third way this could fail. With both Hades and Persephone without their memories, but everyone around them knowing that they should be together, they start seeing a disconnect between their memories and reality. And they start becoming paranoid about a grand conspiracy against them.

Dammit, they're both gods, making an avatar that has limited memories and living as civilians somewhere for a couple years would have been much simpler. Death of the Endless does that as a vacation every year or so.

 

This plan needs revision because even with the nuance this has. It's still too wonky to guarantee a perfect success even when implemented.

Perhaps if she has a magical construct that will allow her to control any and all access Hades has to her instead of the blanket evermore should things not work out.

Paul should leave this with someone completely trust worthy and would totally never abuse it.

Like John Constantine.

 

I had a similar idea that I posted earlier that makes more sense than this plan. What you say makes more sense. Have Avatars that are instilled with their core personalities (and if you more detail on my idea look at my original post).

 

"farmland, it still"

 

I think this chapter shows that Persephone values her memories of Hades.

 

Ya gotta wonder how much of their personalities are shaped by modern mindsets since these issues weighed differently in the past .



What if Zeus was an old anachronism because of his link to the titans primal concepts prevented influence from civilization from touching his personality.