Astoriel's Tales

Like, ok. If you look at Hades 1 character design, characters associated with the House of Hades (or work for Hades) wear gold and have his sigil somewhere on them. Even Alecto, who does not like or respect Hades wear gold and the sigil. I'd even say Alecto and Tis wearing less gold than others could represent how they don't really care about Hades that much, they are just there for their jobs.

Nyx on the other hand does not wear Hades' sigil. There is dialogue about Nyx and Hades's partnership, and Hades even calls the underworld ''their realm''. They see eachother as equals (Nyx says Hades serves the realm responsibly so she doesn't mind his attitude.) But she is responsible for maintaining the house and is a key member of it, so she wears a lot of gold.

She also has a crown like Persephone does, suggesting that she's something close to Persephone authority wise.

You'll also notice that most characters have their necks covered! Why is that? Well, in most business settings in the real world, people wear ties and high collars. In such media you'll see them unbutonning their collars or taking off their ties in more relaxed contexts.

You'll also notice that most olympians don't wear gorgets, or when they do wear something on their necks it's more ''relaxed'')This suggests that the underworld gods are more uptight and disciplined. This has exceptions but it's generally a thing. (Moros literally has a part on his gorget that would stab him in the sternum if he bent over slightly lmao)

On the topic of cultural differences between Olympus and the Underworld, Olympians have british accents and don't wear pants. Underworld gods do wear pants. (Ancient Greeks didn't wear pants bc they thought it was ''barbaric'' a simple google search says.)

Also a characters neck/chest being covered can suggest that they are closed off to others. Thanatos and Hades are more closed off to others, even though their chest is partially open, but Hades compansates for it with the angle of his portrait and facial hair covering his expression, while Thanatos compansates for this with his hood and the hair falling on his face.

Zagreus never, ever wears a gorget. He's rather free spirited and doesn't care about his position as the prince that much. He's relaxed and rebellious, so it makes sense.

Persephone also changes clothes between Hades 1 and 2. In the first game Persephone had just returned to her duties as the Underworld's queen, so she REALLY had to look the part to make her position clear. Notice the skulls, the color, how many accessories she has, etc.

But in Hades 2 her design changes again. She's wearing a more relaxed, comfortable dress with less accessories and gemstones. Her hair is looser. She feels more secure in her position. (Or i'm reading too deep into it and this is her postpartum look idk.)

Hades is also more relaxed in Hades 2! He goes through a lot, between getting his wife back, somewhat making up with his son, having a second kid, failing to protect said kid and years of solitary confinement. It humbles him a lot, he sounds a lot gentler and isn't as loud when he speaks. His clothes are looser, less bright and have less gemstones. Also the angle of his portrait is now at eye level with the player.

You'll also notice how his hair is messier. In Hades 1, his hair is always slicked back, but now he's let go of his need to control everything he lets his hair be messier, maybe even taking after Persephone and Zagreus. The colors are less intense too.

To return to our original point, Zagreus' design.

First of all, his outfit is also a little more muted color wise than the first game. He's less intense. In Hades 1 Zag never wears his fathers sigil and wears very little gold and no gemstones. His outfit is more casual than the other members of the house. It's a clear rejection of Hades' ideals.

He still has a lot of design affinity with hades though, because they are more similar than they both like to think. Especially when you consider Hades' new dialogue about his relationship with Chronos.

He wears a lot more gold, and oh look, he even wears a very similar belt to Hades 1 dades WITH GEMSTONES. He even wears a cape despite making fun of his fathers cape in the first game. The cape has Hades' sigil on the back too lol. In one of the ''rememberance events'' in the first game, Hades says ''You may mock these gemstones but for mortals gemstones are more valuable than their very lives'', so apparently Zag also made fun of that too. HOW THE TURN TABLES. Idk this all suggests to me that their relationship improved really significantly after the first games ending. Though his neck is still completely uncovered bc he's not uptight, at all.

I'd also like to think that now that he has Hades' spear and a more regal look he'll do the ''Murder the ever loving shit out of attempted escapees on the surface'' thing. Apparently Hades just handed Gigaros to him no questions asked when he asked if he could have it. The reason? ''He has a lot of bad memories attached to it.'' (Aka killing his son a bunch of times.) Hades also has a lot of bad memories associated with Varatha, the spear he used to slay Chronos. That's the reason he discarded it after the war with the titans ended.