Hades' Lair

"This... this is death."

- Hades to Hook

Hades' Lair is an Underworld location on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the twelfth episode of the fifth season.

Hades' Lair is based on the location of the same name from Greek Mythology, and the Disney film, Hercules. The Five Rivers of the Underworld are also based on Greek Mythology, while only the Styx appears in the Disney film.

Five Rivers of the Underworld
Hades' Lair is the source of the Five Rivers of the Underworld. Each of these rivers have a special power, represented by their own color:
 * 1) The Styx - The blue river.
 * 2) The Cocytus - The grey river.
 * 3) The Lava River
 * 4) The Acheron, also known as the River of Lost Souls - The green river. When people touch it, the river makes them lost and reduces them to mindless tormented husks. It is also a portal to the "Worse Place".
 * 5) The Lethe, also known as the River of Forgetfulness - The yellow river. When drunk, the water makes people forgetful and can be used in place of a forgetting potion. A spring from the Lethe ran near Henry's Estate in the Enchanted Forest.

Trivia

 * -|On-Screen Notes=

On-Screen Notes

 * Acheron, the River of Lost Souls, shares aspects with three of the five rivers from Greek Mythology: Lethe, Styx and Acheron. Lethe is the river of unmindfulness, and all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. Styx is the river that some souls would try to swim across to reach the Underworld. Acheron is the river of woe, where the shades are ferried across by Charon.
 * However, the rivers Styx and Lethe are separate from the river Acheron on Once Upon a Time.
 * The Lava River is a reference to Phlegethon, the river of fire in the Underworld.
 * -|Prop Notes=

Prop Notes

 * There is a statue of an eagle in Hades' lair. The eagle is the symbol of Zeus, who is Hades' brother in Greek Mythology and the series.
 * Cerberus is pictured on a flag in Hades' lair. Another flag shows a pitchfork-like motif, which can also be seen on the floor of the Ambrosia Temple on the edges of a pentacle.
 * The book Hades is reading in his lair is Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Appearances

 * Hades' Lair appears in the Underworld storybook in "The Brothers Jones" and "Last Rites".