Tartarus

Tartarus

Tartarus is the underworld ruled by Hades.

It is the equivalent of Hel and a realm where night is perpetual. It is a prison with a maze and when souls first enter Tartarus its walls try to entrap them, "speaking" to them, and creating doubt in the listener. To reveal the correct path through the maze the soul must choose what and what not to hear. If the listener conquers all doubts, the maze is defeated.

Map of underworlds

Those in Tartarus are always starving and the key is to know what and what not to eat.

Hades stole Persephone away from her mother, Demeter, and brought her to Tartarus to be his wife. She must dwell in the darkness for six thousand years before she can return back above ground. When the time comes, Persephone must use the Artemis Flame to find her way out of the realm.

Tartarus is where Aife was imprisoned in a cell for centuries after Hades took her from the dungeons of the Dark Fae, and it's where Bo was born.

Trivia

• In early Greek cosmogony Tartaros was the great pit beneath the earth. The cosmos was imagined as a great sphere or ovoid, with the upper half of its shell formed by the dome of heaven, and the lower half by the pit of Tartaros. Inside, this cosmic sphere was divided in two by the flat disc of earth. Above was the dwelling place of gods and men, and below was the gloomy, storm-wracked prison of the Titanes. Tartaros was secured with a surrounding wall of bronze set with a pair of gates, guarded by the hundred-handed Hekatonkheir giants, warders of the Titanes. Through the gates of Tartaros passed Nyx (goddess of the Night) who emerged to wrap the earth in darkness, and also her daughter Hemera (Day), who scattered the mists of night. Later classical writers reimagined Tartaros as the hellish prison-house of the damned, conflating it with Homer's Hadean chamber of torments.

• Tartarus in ancient Greek mythology is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Like other primal entities (such as the Earth, Night and Time), Tartarus was also considered to be a primordial force or deity. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus, though Prometheus, Epimetheus, Metis and most of the female Titans were spared. Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became the place where the punishment fits the crime. In Roman mythology, Tartarus is the place where sinners are sent.

• The Greek underworld, in mythology, was a place where souls went after death and was the Greek idea of afterlife. At the moment of death the soul was separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and was transported to the entrance of Hades [the realm]. It was considered the dark counterpart to the brightness of Mount Olympus, and was the kingdom of the dead that corresponded to the kingdom of the gods. There were five main rivers that appear both in the real world and the underworld. Their names were meant to reflect the emotions associated with death. The Acheron is the river of pain. The Cocytus is the river of wailing. The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness. The Phlegethon is the river of fire. According to Plato, this river led to the depths of Tartarus. The Styx is the river of hatred and circles the underworld seven times.

Appearances

• 5.01 Like Hell Pt.1 (mentioned only)
• 5.02 Like Hell Pt.2
• 5.05 It's Your Lucky Fae (mentioned only)
• 5.07 Here Comes the Night (mentioned only)
• 5.08 End of Faes (mentioned only)