| “ | Heeey, there, Zag, man, how's it going? Look, you have got to get here with the rest of us already, we've been saving you a spot! Let me see what I can do, make life a little sweeter for you in the meantime! | „ |
| ~ Dionysus |
Dionysus is the Olympian God of Wine and Madness, and cousin to Zagreus. He offers boons to Zagreus revolving around his signature Status Curse, Hangover, slowing, and stunning enemies, as well as various drinking-themed Boons.
Dionysus offers strong damage over time abilities on nearly all his offensive boons. However, he can also give Zagreus strong utility abilities in the forms of stuns, slows, heals and health, damage reduction effects, and items.
His signature Status Curse is Hangover, which deals continuous damage to afflicted enemies every half second. Hangover can be stacked onto an enemy up to a base amount of 5 times, and stacks wear off one at a time after 4 seconds.
Dionysus returns in Hades II and offers his boons to Melinoë. Unlike the first game, Dionysus appears in a specific chamber in-person. He can be encountered on Mount Olympus.
Characteristics and Personality[]
Dionysus is usually very receptive, fun-loving, and playful, and he joins in helping Zagreus because he finds him entertaining to watch while drinking a good wine. Even his speech tends to be a little slurred, as if he's always a little drunk.
Good-natured, Dionysus is probably the friendliest among his family, and he only cares about one thing: having fun. He uses informal terms to address his cousin, like "guy" or "Prince Z" while genuinely helping Zagreus and teaching him the art of playing pranks. Although some of his family members think that he is only participating because he considers it all a "festival," Dionysus genuinely thinks discovering a long-lost relative is cause for celebration.
However, like his fellow gods, Dionysus has his pride and will turn on his cousin during the Trial of the Gods if Zagreus doesn't pick his boon first. Unlike everyone else who genuinely gets angry with Zagreus momentarily, Dionysus simply gets disappointed.
Achilles notes that Dionysus is the only god on Olympus who genuinely seems to like mortals, possibly because he was once a demigod.
Dionysus is also a pacifist who believes that a good cup of wine and feast can solve conflicts without fighting, a line of thought that has made him unpopular with the other Gods as the war against Chronos rages on. His reluctance to fight has made him an exile in his own home as he was told by his father Zeus to get out of his sight which Dionysus did.
Physical description[]
Dionysus appears as a dark-skinned man with a toned body and long dark blue hair with curls. His eyes are purple and sports a small stubble. In addition, his cheeks are flushed due to his constant drinking.
For clothing, he wears a short, wide, smoky purple chiton and wears gold bracelets on his wrists and thighs and adorns his shoulders with grape vines and animal skin. On his head he wears an ivy crown with grapes. On his right arm rests a staff of fennel adorned with a pine cone (the thyrsus which symbolizes prosperity, fertility, and hedonism) and between his thumb and index fingers he holds a single grape. On his left hand he holds a drinking cup that emits a purple smoke.
In Hades II, Dionysus only wears a leopard-print thong while holding several wine cups.
Hades[]
Dionysus will eventually reach out to Zagreus and lend his help in the prince's escape attempts. Having grown in a very secluded place, Zagreus is surprised at first to experience revelry, even if minimal.
After Zagreus reaches the surface for the first time, Dionysus will comment how the gods in Olympus could feel his presence, but then suddenly ceased to do so. Nonetheless, this doesn't let that stop him from trying to help his dear cousin.
Somehow, Dionysus came to know that Orpheus hasn't been feeling his best lately, and so, to cheer him up, he asks Zagreus to come up with a tale about how they're one and the same, hoping this will bring creativity and lift the spirits of the musician. In the end, the prank got out of hand, but Dionysus is satisfied with the result.
In the Epilogue, Dionysus shows up at the family reunion party completely drunk and emptied the whole stash of drinks the House had prepared. After the party, he continues to help Zagreus on his new job of testing the defences of the Underworld.
Hades II[]
Dionysus refuses to participate in the war against Chronos and has fallen into a drunken stupor. When Melinoë encounters him, Dionysus is holding a secret party and briefly confuses her with Zagreus. Afterwards, he gives Melinoë his boons whenever she visits.
During one of Melinoë's visits, Dionysus requests her to relay an invitation to his feast to Prometheus. Melinoë begrudgingly does this task but Prometheus refuses the invitation.
Affinity[]
Dionysus' affinity gauge is maxed out at 7 
hearts. The final affinity gauge will be locked until Zagreus forges bonds with at least 6 different characters, and gifting a minimum of 10 
to any number of characters.
As of Early Access, Dionysus' affinity gauge is maxed out at 4 hearts.
Codex entry[]
Book of Shadows entry (Hades II)[]
Trivia[]
- While Dionysus was formerly a demigod in Hades, not all versions of his birth myth portray him as such. Different reasons are also given to how he became a god.
- Chaos mentions enjoying watching Dionysus because, much like Zagreus, they find entertainment in Dionysus's unpredictability.
- The prank he and Zagreus pull on Orpheus is a reference to their Orphic myth, where Dionysus is seen as a reincarnation of Zagreus.
- Dionysus avoiding the conflict in Hades II is ironic, seeing as he is the god of insanity and was also involved in the Indian War, in some versions said to be the war that later granted him a place among the gods.
- Dionysus' Keepsake in Hades II is a reference to the Renaissance-era practice of covering nudity with fig leaves in paintings and sculpture. This practice originated in depictions of Adam and Eve, but was often applied to works portraying the Greek gods, who had traditionally been depicted nude to denote their divine perfection.
- Ariadne is Dionysus' wife in Greek Mythology. It's unclear if they're also married in the games as it's never outright stated, only that they had some time together.
- It's also unclear where is she during the events of the games. Zagreus advises Theseus to search for her in the Underworld, and Theseus later tells Asterius he'll seek her out, hinting she is dead, However, while some versions of her story have her dying, others have Dionysus carry her to Mount Olympus where she then resides with him. While Zagreus knows some major events that have happened in the Underworld (like four people who left while still alive), he doesn't appear to know everyone who resides there, meaning his information could be false; as for Theseus, given his status as Champion and King of Elysium, he could possibly send a message to her with ease. Thus, there's a certain ambiguity surrounding Ariadne and her current status.
- In Greek Mythology, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the demigoddess (or full human) Semele, but Semele is the daughter of Cadmus (founder of Thebes) and Harmonia (goddess of concord), a daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Therefore Dionysus is the son and great-great-grandson of Zeus, the half-brother and great-grandson of Ares, and in some versions also of Aphrodite, the uncle and grandson of Harmonia, and the son and great-uncle of Semele. But as Supergiant Games changes the relationships between the characters to completely avoid incest, it is possible that Dionysus' mother and maternal grandmother are two ordinary mortal women who have no biological relationship to either Ares, nor Aphrodite nor Zeus.
- In his chamber in Hades II, Satyrs and Maenads can be found enjoying themselves. In mythology, they are Dionysus' close companions.
- A leopard is also seen near Dionysus, which is one of his sacred animals.
- The statue that sends water to the pool appears inspired by the famous Manneken Pis, or Little Pissing Man, statue from Belgium; however, it's designed to look like Dionysus.
- All of Dionysus' elemental boon affinities are water, likely tied to his status as the God of Wine since both are drinks.
- Dionysus' reaction to Frinos sterns from the time frogs sang to him.
Gallery[]
-
Dionysus Reward -
Dionysus Symbol in Hades
-
Dionysus Symbol in Hades II
-
Dionysus' Wall-Scroll
-
Dionysus Bond Forged Icon
-
Dionysus Codex Entry
-
Dionysus Book of Shadows Entry
-
Halloween 2020 by Joanne Tran
Additional notes[]
For additional information on Dionysus that does not pertain to Hades, see Wikipedia's article: Dionysus
| ||||||||||||||||||||
