How to Romance Thanatos in Hades

Hades is a dungeon crawler with roguelike elements that came out in 2020. For those who are curious, its protagonist is the god Zagreus, who seeks to escape from his father Hades’s titular realm. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that Hades has a lot of characters from Greek mythology. To name an example, there is Thanatos, who is one of a small number of characters that can be romanced.

Who Is Thanatos in Hades?

In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death. Some people might find that strange because of the existence of Hades. However, the latter wasn’t the personification of death. Instead, Hades who was the ruler of the underworld, which meant that he presided over the dead who inhabited the underworld as well.

Meanwhile, Thanatos was the one who represented the process of death itself. Unsurprisingly, Thanatos wasn’t exactly seen in the best light by the Greeks. He wasn’t a particularly malicious figure. In fact, there are some sources that claimed that Thanatos specifically represented peaceful death while the Keres were the ones who represented violent death. Even so, Thanatos was fundamentally a representation of a negative concept. Thanks to this, he was said to have been the son of Nyx and Erebus, two primordials who were night and darkness respectively.

Furthermore, he had a number of siblings who represented negative concepts as well, with examples including but not limited to Apate who represented deception, Eris who represented strife, and Geras who represented old age. However, Thanatos’s best-known sibling relationship would be Hypnos who represented sleep, presumably because of the perceived similarities between death and sleep that existed in a wide range of cultures in a wide range of places.

In Hades, Thanatos’s role is pretty much what one would expect based on this context. He is the son of Nyx, which in turn, means that he is sort of a foster-brother to Zagreus. Furthermore, both Thanatos and Hypnos work for Hades, though Thanatos is much more serious about his responsibilities than Hypnos. On the whole, he is very friendly towards Zagreus. Thanatos isn’t exactly happy about the latter’s desire to escape Hades, particularly since he does seem to see it as a sort of abandonment of everyone who lives within said realm. Even so, he is nothing but helpful the entire way.

How Do You Romance Thanatos in Hades?

Those who want to romance Thanatos will need to start by meeting Thanatos. This won’t happen right away. However, it is no more than a matter of time. To be exact, the player will need to fight the Fury at the end of the first level. Initially, Megaera is the only Fury who will show up. Eventually, her sisters Alecto and Tisiphone will start showing up as well. Once the player has seen either Alecto or Tisiphone, they will have a chance of running into Thanatos after the third chamber of the third level, which would be Elysium.

This will serve as their introduction to Thanatos’s special mechanic. Essentially, the player will compete with Thanatos to see which of them can kill more enemies within a short period of time. There is no penalty for losing. However, if the player either wins or ties, Thanatos will reward them with a Centaur Heart. There isn’t much to be said about the competition save that interested individuals should focus on weaker enemies rather than tougher enemies.

Besides that, they should also avoid those that have either been marked by Thanatos’s scythe or been caught within the area of effect of Thanatos’s spell because he will eventually insta-kill those enemies. Once the player has run into Thanatos, they will be able to run into him anywhere other than the Temple of Styx, which would be the last level. Furthermore, he can show up in the same hallway as Achilles in the House of Hades. Thanatos isn’t guaranteed to make an appearance, but he will have a higher-than-normal chance of showing up if the player ran into him during their last run.

From there, it is just a matter of giving Thanatos Nectar. The first such gift will result in the player getting the Pierced Butterfly, which will boost their damage if they clear chambers without taking any damage. After six such gifts, the player will need to beat Thanatos in a competition to see an extra scene that serves as his favor.

Once this has been seen, the player will have the ability to give Thanatos Ambrosia. The first such gift will result in the player getting the Companion Mort, which can be used to summon Thanatos to help out in most encounters. Unsurprisingly, Thanatos won’t show up if he is already present at a competition. Similarly, Thanatos won’t help out against Hades himself, though Hades will eventually grant him permission to do so. Regardless, once the player has given Thanatos four Ambrosia, they will have maxed out their affinity with him. At which point, they will see a scene in Zagreus’s room that gives them the option of either starting a romantic relationship with Thanatos or staying as friends with Thanatos.

It is possible to romance all three of the romanceable characters at the same time. In fact, there is an extra scene if the player chooses to romance both Thanatos and Megaera, which will show the trio starting a polyamorous relationship.

Summed up, the player will need six Nectar and four Ambrosia. Collecting that much Nectar shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. After all, it is possible for the stuff to show up as chamber rewards. Never mind the multiple other repeatable options for getting Nectar. Ambrosia is more challenging. The surest method would be beating Theseus and the Minotaur at the end of Elysium using each of the weapons at each of the heat levels. Other than that, the repeatable methods would be either turning in a Bass to the Head Chef or trading a couple of diamonds to the Wretched Broker. As such, be very careful about using Ambrosia when there are still characters to befriend.

You can also read:

• 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Mimikyu
• The Dragon Age Origins Gift Giving Guide
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Yamato’s Devil Fruit
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game – The Cook Gameplay Tips
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game – Leatherface Gameplay Tips