Type: Mystic realm
Environment: Hellish
Usual Means Of Access: Magic
Dominant Lifeform: Demons
Prominent Inhebltsnta: Pluto, Persephone

Comments: Pluto rules Hades, the Olympian underworld, or realm of the dead, where the spirits of the Olympian gods and those of their worshippers went to dwell after death. Hades is actually a pocket dimension accessible both from Earth and from Olympus.

Spirits usually arrive in Hades on the border of the river Styx, which has as its tributaries the rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Aornis, the flaming river Phlegethon, and Lethe, whose waters, when drunk, induce loss of memory. The ferryman Charon conveys the arriving spirits across the Styx. They then pass the guardian Cerberus, who can take the form of a gigantic humanoid warrior or of a savage three-headed dog. The arriving spirits pass through the dismal Asphodel Fields to a section called Erebus, where the palace of Pluto and Persephone stands.

Near the Palace newly arrived spirits are judged by the shades of the mortals Aeacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthys, and are then sent along three paths. Those who were neither truly good nor truly evil in life are sent on the road back to the Asphodel Fields. Those who were evil are condemned to Tartarus, a dark place of terrible punishments; where the Titan warriors are confined. The virtuous travel the path to Elysium, a beautiful and peaceful realm where they dwell happily. Elysium and Tartarus may be separate pocket dimensions from that of Hades proper.

First Appearance: THOR #130