the animated trailer for Hades was gorgeous, and I've seen some people talking about wanting a full series! I was trying to figure out how that would work and here's what I've got: it's Russian Doll meets Greek Mythology meets Fighting Anime. (threat, //hades spoilers ahead)

Hades, by dint of its format, is lowkey one of those groundhog day kinds of stories. time doesn't reset in Hades, and the path is never exactly the same, BUT Russian Doll didn't compare its setting to a game where you keep dying for nothing.

the other connection my brain's making here is the runs in Hades double as Zag iteratively working his way out of an abusive home situation (as Nadia iteratively works her way through her trauma in RD). idk, maybe there's something there.

points at @/JeansValentino for better, more incisive words about this, but I won't @ her here for fear of spoiling something
(I should add, this thread isn't me presenting my solid, structured galaxy brain pitch, just throwing spaghetti like "I think this is something?!")

iterative time loop shows also tend to use montages to great effect. once you've got the shorthand language for "and then Zag fought X and Y and Z", you can riffle quickly through all the areas we've already seen. I love the idea of a quick, violent montage of a run!

not unlike this, uuuhhhh, league of legends cinematic actually!
ITERATIVITY!!

the thing that's really tripping me up is the vastness of the world. Hades will probably always be best as a game; idk if there would even be any point in trying to adapt it as a show. the lore, the detail, the diverse range of weapons and upgrades, A BUNCH OF GODS...

you can't keep every little piece of minutia, y'know? it'd require way more careful planning than I have in me right now to cherrypick the important parts. and to figure out how to dramatize them into a single, cohesive season! though it does sound like a fun exercise to try

I think you'd have to do some work to make the upgrade mechanics simpler and more organic. like, in-game it's fun to figure out which stats you wanna load darkness into, and keep track of your extra damage %s and be like "well I'll get poseidon for cast and then the ares duo..."

...but in a show, the idea of a character keeping track of that stuff in such detail is (to me, and I...assume to others?) tedious.
SIDE NOTE Bastion and Transistor are WAY better suited to adaptation, given they both have an actual typical plot structure?

not saying that makes them better or worse, just, u know, closer already to what we're going for here. also how great would a transistor movie be???
anyway, the other puzzle with Hades is the ending. do you end it with Persephone coming back? it's good, but--

then you've got the ~True Ending~ that I've seen around left to go?? like, do you just forget about that? I guess it could be like...a two-season deal. you'd have to work to keep the fighting-and-dying part fresh, though--the Pact of Punishment does that in-game, but...

like, again, it would be all about dramatizing the game elements that make the game fun into something more cinematic. taking the "you can run into X and Y plot point in any order depending on your choices" vibe and organizing it all into a single vector.

pretend that means something pls, it makes sense in my head, RIP
anyway, this is an anticlimactic ending but these are literally my first thoughts on the subject, really what I need is to make a Thought Map or something lmao
would love to hear others' thoughts here tho!

(subplots...we've got orpheus/eurydice, achilles/patroclus, nyx please talk to your parent, megaera and than as zag's love interests, Mom Lore, Mom Come Home, Dad Lore, Dad Stop Being An Asshole?...lots to choose from, how to organize, what to pick, how close to it do we stick?)