Clowning Around

There are numerous details that hint at Chronos' redemption, both thematically and from a practical perspective. From night one I wondered how the hell we were supposed to kill this guy. Not literally (there's an understanding that magic can accomplish almost anything in this game), but from a repercussions standpoint. In a world where incarnations of concepts are those concepts on a literal level, what happens if you kill time? How does the world function? How does anything go on? If I remember correctly, the characters briefly acknowledge the question of what the world will be like without Chronos, but they never come to any plausible conclusions. It was at this point I knew with some certainty that we wouldn't actually be killing Chronos. This simply wasn't a game interested in - or capable of - providing an epilogue that answered such a philosophical question as, "What does this world look like without time?" To keep things in the range of the doable, Chronos would either be "killed" in the same way he was before, AKA forced into imprisonment... or he would be redeemed, an option that MUCH more closely follows the themes of the first game, particularly when it comes to Hades.

There are other hints too: Chronos' numerous lines that reference his disappointment in the state of his family, Zagreus continually questioning Melinoe if she's sure they should kill their grandfather, the larger theme of characters blurring the lines between enemy and friend: Eris loves screwing up Melinoe's quest but will still hang out with her at the Crossroads. Hercules is an asset until he teams up with Prometheus. Medea is likewise an ally until she's poisoning you alongside Polyphemus, something she "has" to do due to the oath, but you get the distinct sense she's enjoying herself. Looking back, it's clear to me how the game was setting this all up. Now, Melinoe has a beloved grandfather she also spent her whole life training to kill. That... actually tracks given the rest of this family's relationships.

But the change is a shock, it's supposed to be, and the writing helps us get a taste of what Melinoe is feeling by providing a flashback that, frankly, only makes sense in retrospect. Not following it entirely the first time around keeps us aligned with Melinoe's emotional perspective in the present, but looking back it's a fantastic choice. The ambiguous time + "The House of Hades?" question mark + Chronos' slightly sinister sounding, "Ready or not, hence I go..." initially made me think we were seeing his attack on the house. That, plus keeping his original portrait, helps sell the idea that he's still in the early stages of becoming someone new; there's still that devious Titan lurking below the surface. Yet simultaneously, he's made enough headway that Hades trusts him to roam the house, play with his daughter, banter with his son. And the game itself! Yes, it's adorable, but it's also what Hecate played with Melinoe the first time around, back in the Crossroads.

There, hide and seek was Baby's First Training Session and although it's reduced purely to a game in this timeline - a moment where Melinoe is given her childhood back - she still seeks the "shadows" of the kitchen, reassuring us that her connection to the Unseen is not solely the result of a traumatic past, but something she's drawn to instinctually. In addition, we're further shown that her inclination towards the Unseen doesn't keep her from being kind. ('I'd find all the bits and put you back together again!'). This is still Melinoe, the same goddess we know, despite the difference in upbringing - an important reminder, I think, so that the player doesn't feel like we lost out on some "better" version of the protagonist. However, this is certainly not Chronos. He's had years to change his ways, will have years more before he returns to the present... but only he and Zagreus remember that. So of course Melinoe is shocked and distrusting; of course we're confused and uncertain. Those are the emotions that are meant to pervade the scene. We have to work through the sudden appearance of this new Chronos just as Melinoe does.

Overall, I think SuperGiant did a phenomenal job. They wrote an ending that makes sense (they were never really going to kill time), is thematically in alignment with the rest of the series (redemption), it kept our emotional tether to the protagonist (what the FUCK is going on), AND found a way to keep the runs going while simultaneously providing the catharsis of defeating the villain. We do get to kill Chronos. We get to kill as many Chronoses as we want! They're the versions of him that will never admit to their mistakes... but this one has.