The second season of Netflix’s Blood of Zeus amps things up to the next level, diving much deeper into the annals of Greek mythology while following the journey of Electra’s sons—Heron and Seraphim. As the half-brothers navigate their way through the treacherous politics and power struggle between Olympus and the Underworld while trying to control their destiny, an ancient threat looms large, which can change the dynamics between gods and mortals forever.
Spoilers Ahead
Hades Quest to Gain Eleusinian Stone: Seraphim Joins Hands
The beginning of the second season revisits the Giants’ attack on the Olympian gods, which took place in the final moments of the first season, but this time from a different perspective. The viewers’ attention shifts to Hades and Persephone, the rulers of the Underworld, who plot to use the confusion and chaos of the war raging in Olympus to send Hades’ Shadows in order to discreetly steal the Eleusinian Stone, an artifact so powerful that it can turn the existing world order on its head. Hades aims to use it to get back at his siblings, Hera and Zeus, whose machinations have damned his family to spend eternity in the hellish Underworld. Regarding the question of the stone’s properties and the betrayal of Zeus and Hera, a brief look back to the past is needed.
Following the end of Titanomachy, the terrible monster Typhon was born at the same time as the giants were after the fall of the last Titan. However, it didn’t let its presence known, adhering to the words of the great serpent Python, and gained strength from the depths of ocean. When Typhon emerged and waged war with the gods, it proved to be more powerful than even the Titans and giants combined. Unable to tackle the threat, the gods sought help from Anatolian witch goddess Hecate, who imprisoned Typhon under Mount Etna and stored its strength inside a diamond, naming it the Eleusinian stone. Being an elemental force, Typhon could not be killed, and holding its immense powers, the Eleusinian stone couldn’t be trusted to anyone in fear of it being used for malevolent purposes. A draw was conducted with the mystical stone, whoever got a hold of the mystical gem wouldill rule over Olympus. Hera had deliberately fixed the draw to make Zeus obtain the Eleusinian stone, and Poseidon, despite being aware of the conspiracy, sided with his siblings. Zeus didn’t let go of his high seat in the following years, and as a result, Poseidon ruled the seas, and Hades remained forever trapped in his tormented existence as ruler of the Underworld.
At present, during the second coming of the giants, Hades’ Shadows fail to obtain the stone as, before sacrificing his life to save Hera, Zeus sends his sister Hestia to secure the stone and send it to All-mother, Gaia. The Shadows send carrion-eating monstrosities, Keres, to capture Hestia, but ultimately fail to stop her. Gaia takes the stone into the Hidden Realm, the same place where she kept Zeus hidden from his murderous father Kronos’ gaze eons ago. As Hades ponders his next course of action, Persephone advises him to seek the assistance of the late Seraphim, whose spirit has recently passed from the realm of the mortals after being killed by his half-brother, Heron. Having consumed the flesh of a giant to become the first demon, Seraphim has giant’s blood flowing through him, and given the fact that giants are Gaia’s children, he too can access the Hidden Realm.
However, as Hades tries to bring Seraphim’s spirit back to the mortal plane to do his bidding, he appears to be unwilling to become anyone’s pawn any longer. Seraphim’s spirit faces judgment from the three kings of the underworld, Minos, Rhadamenthus, and Aeaceus—and the only bit of virtue that sits against his pile of sins is the purity of the love he shared with a priestess named Gorgo, who had shown kindness to him when he was still human and being chased down by his murderous/power-hungry uncle, Acricius, and his men. Seraphim, too proud to acknowledge his crimes or repent, chooses eternal damnation in Tartarus. Persephone advises Hades to exploit a common grief or to become a father figure to Seraphim to win his trust. Hades reveals to Seraphim that he has been influencing Seraphim’s actions for a long while; in fact, it was Hades who secretly instructed Seraphim to consume giant flesh, which is why he turned into a demon in the first place and was able to revolt against the gods. As a last attempt to convince Seraphim to join his side, Hades reveals that Gorgo’s spirit has remained stuck in the Underworld as a wraith due to Seraphim abandoning her. A remorseful Seraphim remembers that Gorgo, aware of his dark past, wanted Seraphim to shed his inner darkness and start a life together by leaving their past behind.
However, Seraphim’s vengeful mind separated him from Gorgo as he prioritized his revenge over love, and a series of events changed his fate forever as he became the first demon. Gorgo was murdered by Tree Bender Sinis, and since then her spirit hasn’t been able to pass to the other side. To highlight a shared feeling of grief related to matters of the heart, Hades shares his predicament of how he won the heart of his beloved Persephone, goddess of spring, who joined him to live happily together in the Underworld. However, Persephone’s overbearing mother, Demeter, never approved of her daughter staying in the literal hellhole. As the legend goes, she implored Zeus to make arrangements for Persephone to stay in Olympus for six months after spending the rest of the year in the Underworld—thereby creating the prime seasons summer and winter. Hades and his children with Persephone, Zagreus and Melinoe, dearly miss Persephone during the six months she stays in Olympus, and during his lifetime, Zeus never lets Olympus’ reins fall into any of his brothers’ hands, let alone Hades’, who desperately wants to take his family away from the corrupting darkness of the Underworld. Taking pity on his plight, Seraphim agrees to help Hades in exchange for him releasing Gorgo’s soul and providing the water of the river Lethe, which he can use to make Gorgo completely forget about him.
Heron’s Search for Identity
On the other hand, at present, Heron has found his place in the midst of the Olympian gods, especially among Zeus’ illegitimate children, but he continues to feel emotionally burdened by his past actions. Heron regrets taking his brother Seraphim’s life, especially because, to some extent, he too believed in his words about the gods being responsible for all the miseries in the lives of mortals and needing to be dethroned from their heavenly abode. Additionally, Heron feels his father’s legacy is coursing through his veins as he occasionally taps into Zeus’ power of thunder, which causes a worry or two in Amazonian Grand Archon Alexia, Heron’s companion, who fears the corruption of power might get to Heron. Gaia secretly instructs Heron to retrieve the Adamantium Sword Zeus had left for him and save Seraphim, in search of which he visits Hephaestus. The god of the forge provides Heron with a compass, which can detect the location of the Adamantium Sword, and mentions it still resides within Talos, whom Seraphim had defeated in the first season using the same sword.
The Fate sisters visit Heron and share a premonition about his impending death, as it is revealed that someone has secretly severed his thread of fate. A certain disillusionment grips Heron’s mind as he decides to leave Olympus but ends up getting caught up in a feud with Ares, the prideful firstborn of Zeus, during funeral games. While having a competitive brawl with the god of war, Heron accidentally unleashes Zeus’ powers once again but loses control over it soon enough. As Ares decides to pummel Heron into submission, Hera appears for the first time in the second season to defuse the conflict. Her demeanor makes it apparent that Zeus’ death has moved her immensely, and she is regretting her actions. Given the high seat of Olympus is now empty, Gaia announces a tournament to be held soon, which will determine who gets to reign over Olympus and also control the Eleusinian stone. Zeus’s spirit appears for a final time in front of his extended family of Olympian gods, hands Heron his ring, and makes amends with his children before being taken to the Underworld for his trial. During the trial in front of the three kings, Hades can’t help but question Zeus’ choices and decisions, which gravely ruined the lives of others, and even though a changed Hera desperately tries to save her former lover’s face by portraying his actions to be for greater good, it simply isn’t enough to allow Zeus to escape damnation in Tartarus.
Electra’s Sons Cross Path: Who Gets The Eleusinian Stone?
To use Adamantium mineral to activate Hephaestus’ compass, Heron, accompanied by Alexia, Kofi, and Evios, decides to visit his village—as he used to mine the rare mineral back in the day. Heron discovers a hidden chamber inside his old cottage, made by Zeus, who appears in front of him as a projection and shares his belief about Heron turning out to be the savior Olympus needs in the future. Heron finds himself approached by the same villagers, who’d tormented him and Electra years ago, quite differently—now that he’s saved them from a few bloodthirsty Keres. Heron learns his mother’s final resting place was made by Zeus in Kerameikos, and he goes to visit the place with his friends to pay his respect.
In the meantime, Seraphim, taking human form with Hades’ help, has already set out to reach the Hidden Realm, and en route, he takes a detour to confront the monstrous Tree Bender and kill him, avenging Gorgo’s death in the process. An injured Seraphim loses consciousness near Kerameikos, where he comes across Heron and his group and introduces himself as Icarus. Seraphim nearly kills Heron while maintaining his cover, but seeing him lamenting the death of their mother Electra, mourning the death of Seraphim at his hands, the first demon appears sympathetic to his half brother and reconsiders his decision. Later, Seraphim finds Gorgo’s resting place nearby as well, and begs for her forgiveness while pledging he will ensure the release of her spirit from the Underworld.
On the other hand, Heron finds Adamantine mineral etched on the flower engraving of his mother’s grave and uses it in the compass to locate the Talos automaton wreaking havoc on a fleet of Amazons. Heron and Alexia manage to defeat Talos, as Heron obtains the Adamantine Sword within it, and Alexia catches up with her Amazonian family briefly. Heron realizes that the person introducing himself as Icarus was none other than his brother, Seraphim, who has joined hands with Hades for reasons he is still unaware of. On the other hand, Demeter confronts Hades about him conspiring against Olympus, and in exchange for maintaining secrecy, she offers to form an alliance, as she wants to rule Olympus with her daughter and son-in-law together—without having to remain separated from Persephone any longer. Demeter poisons mortals using parasitic spores and uses the same to infect and weaken the gods of Olympus, trying to use their hatred for Hera to make it seem it was her doing. However, Athena knows the truth, and she informs her siblings about Demeter’s role in this, following which they abduct Persephone.
On the other hand, Seraphim enters the Hidden Realm by tricking the Curetes guarding it and goes on to take part in three trials—facing off against Hecate and resisting the temptation to change a pivotal moment in his or Gorgo’s life and answering the Sphinx’s riddles—before reaching Aetos, Zeus’ eagle who holds the Eleusinian Stone. Heron, suspecting Hades is trying to obtain the Eleusinian Stone, reaches the Hidden Realm to safeguard the artifact and is able to deduce that Seraphim has beaten him to it. Heron enters the mystical dimension using Zeus’ ring, and after completing the trials, is confronted by Gaia—who reveals her wish to teach the gods a lesson in forgiveness through whoever among Heron or his brother, Seraphim, manages to obtain the Eleusinian stone and take the high seat of Olympus. Facing off against Seraphim, Heron learns about his motive of joining Hades, of saving the soul of someone he loves. Heron tries to convince Seraphim to not engage in battle all over again, as he regrets his past actions, but Seraphim launches an attack on Zeus’ eagle nevertheless to obtain the stone. The conflict reaches out of the Hidden Realm, where Hades and Demeter have already arrived with the pantheon of gods of the Underworld; Ares and his loyalists have gathered; and lastly, Athena and the rest of Zeus’ siblings appear, holding Persephone captive to force Hades to give up his pursuit for stone. Hera appears and tries her best to convince Hades to court another war, asking him to take lessons from her predicament. However, Hades has not come this far to give up on his dreams, and a battle ensues between all the gods present. During the battle, brother duo Seraphim and Heron defend each other on multiple occasions, indicating how much they have grown since their first conflict, and both of them have a sympathetic perspective towards each other. Heron finally gets his hands on the Eleusinian Stone and taps into his empowered state to stop the violent conflict, but despite having every chance and reason to use it to kill Hera and get revenge on her, Heron chooses to forgive her—adhering to Gaia’s lessons. Heron aims to let go of past grudges and asks Hades to do right by Seraphim, who gives him the water of Lethe as promised previously. However, as Heron decides to maintain the original status quo to restore the order, Hades needs to go back to where he belongs, a decision the overlord of the Underworld cannot accept. A remorseful Hades asks for Heron’s forgiveness before plunging his dagger into his heart, killing Heron as a result, and Hades takes the Eleusinian Stone.
Heron’s death enrages Gaia, who emerges in her empowered form and captures Hades, taking the Eleusinian Stone from him. Seeing how the actions of Zeus, Hera, and Hades have destabilized the balance between realms time and time again, Gaia deems her grandchildren unfit to rule Olympus. As a punishment for failing their noble, kind young leader, Gaia calls upon Typhon’s name, which awakens the monster from its prolonged slumber. With this, Gaia announces the end of the gods’ era and initiates a new age for Titans.
Season 3 Expectations
As revealed in the trailer of the third and final season of Blood of Zeus, Heron returns to life, which I am guessing has something to do with the Fate Sisters’ prophecy about cheating his death in the second season. Kronos and his Titans will rise following the awakening of Typhon, putting not only the Olympian gods but the rest of the world in deep peril as well. It seems that Seraphim might join hands with his half-brother at long last to make a stand against Titans for a final showdown.Â
