Zeus

Zeus (ゼウス, Ζεύς) is a mythological thunder god who governs over the other deities of Mount Olympus. Known for his romantic escapades, he fathered many heroic figures in Greek myth.

Role in Games
In the fourth installment of the Warriors Orochi series, Zeus took an interest in Orochi's parallel world and brought the heroes back there to realize his ambitions.

Through his mirror in Olympus, Zeus saw the history of how Orochi created a parallel world and taking heroes from the Three Kingdoms era and the Sengoku period and how the heroes defeated Orochi, the Hydra and the God of Destruction. Intrigued, he decided to recreate that world for his own goals and created the Ouroboros Bracelets from his powers and the power of Orochi's scythe, which he had "borrowed" from the Mystic Realm. As he creates the world, pulling heroes back to the parallel world and drops a couple of the bracelets, Perseus, a half-mortal son of Zeus stole the bracelets which delays Zeus' plans. As the bracelets were not activated, powerful beings such as himself cannot enter without risking the destruction of the recreated world, thus he ordered his children, Athena and Ares to go to the world and prepare for his arrival, without telling what his plan was. As the world stabilizes, more powerful beings arrived from the Mystic Realm and Olympus, and this includes Zeus, who arrives and immediately fights the human coalition, who had noticed that Perseus is not actually Perseus, but Loki, an Asgardian god. In a tough battle, the humans barely defeated Zeus, who was intrigued by the humans' strength. Meeting his children, he continues to order them to engage the humans without telling why, which irritates Ares.

As the humans fought and bested Zeus again, he commented at the strength of the humans and superficially said that seeing the humans fight his children wants to make him fight, this angers Ares and Ares stole Zeus's power, having made a deal with Loki and the one who sent him, Odin, King of Asgard. This forces Zeus to a comatose state, with his weapon separated and his body hidden by Loki. The coalition then fought Loki to find out where Zeus's body was hidden, which Loki then tells them voluntarily. Zeus was then revived by Athena, the Mystics who helps the humans and Ares, who was back-stabbed by Odin and stole Zeus's power. Revived, Zeus then punishes Ares by forcing him to dedicate his life in defense of all lives on all worlds.

With his revival, he then tells the coalition his real goal: he never wanted power or conquest, instead, Zeus wanted to use his power as bait to lure Odin out and defeat him with the humans and Mystics; before he created the parallel world, Zeus had seen how Odin survived his demise and how his fear of destruction and thirst for power had created a disturbing ambition to conquer all worlds and started marshaling his forces for war. This concerns Zeus as this would mean all-out war between the gods of Asgard and Olympus and will engulf the human world and the Mystic Realm as well. In order to prevent this, he saw the humans' fight against Orochi and decided that it would be best that he traps Odin in the parallel world and defeat Odin there with the humans. Zeus also accounted for Orochi to be revived by Odin and planned for this to allow the Mystics to enter the parallel world to help the humans. While he did not account for Ares' betrayal and Odin stealing his power and use of the God of Destruction, he remains helpful towards the humans after seeing them fight, and decided to help them directly after the humans gave his weapon back.

He then fights in the final battle alongside Athena, Ares and the humans against Odin. He helped the humans defeat the God of Destruction and Orochi, and was surprised at the fight between the two. In the final battle, he then personally cleared the way to Odin's weapon, Yggdrasil. With Odin defeated, Zeus retakes his own power and destroyed Yggdrasil, which destabilizes the parallel world; Zeus then apologizes for his doings, retakes the bracelets back and with the help of the Mystics, sends back the humans to their respective time periods.

During Ultimate, Loki chooses to surrender early to the Coalition, and helps them engage Odin. To everyone's surprise, Gaia, although only in her spirit form, appears before the Coalition to help locate Odin's soul as the Asgardian God would always resurrect indefinitely following his defeats. Zeus continues to follow his mother's directions to Changshan, where Zeus and the deified humans struggle against Odin's phantoms and horrors. Unexpectedly, Hades arrives to assist his brother, having been duped into allowing Odin's original escape from the Underworld.

While Hades would successfully trace Odin's soul back to the Spring of Ymir near the roots of Ygdrassil, he would need more time to locate its exact location. Zeus would later work alongside his brother to breakthrough the spring's entrance at Chencang-Ueda Castle. Together, they would siphon a portion of the Spring's energy to help provide Gaia with a physical body. Zeus would later accompany his allies in finally eliminating Odin at the Spring after Hades senses Odin's soul at the center of the spring. Due to Odin's death, the Spring collapses, and Zeus and the Gods, and Mystics use their remaining energy to send the humans away to safety.

In the alternate scenario that the real Perseus is revived before the final battle, the demi-god exposes Hades's plan to retake Odin's soul and claim Yggdrasil's power for himself. Zeus and the rest of the Coalition scramble to the Spring, where they already find Odin dead. Unable to oppose Hades's newfound power, Zeus leads the Coalition's escape through Chencang-Ueda from Hades's growing power. As they no longer have the strength to oppose Hades, Gaia and Kaguya decide to combine their powers to restore the latter's time travel abilities at Changshan. Although Hades nearly destroys their operation, the pair succeed in returning back to the Spring of Mimir.

Finally rescuing Odin and gaining his allegiance against Hades, the Coalition decides to seize the sacred treasure, Bident, in order to have the means to split Odin's soul from Yggdrasil. Zeus would be among the heroes sent to the Underworld to help claim the treasure during Hades's absence. Sensing his brother's growing inability to truly control Yggdrasil's power at Odawara-Wan Castle, Zeus moves to confront his sibling at the Spring of Mimir.

In the final battle, Zeus finally triumphs against his brother. Despite this, he chides his older brother for failing to accept the help from others, but once again offers to mend their bond. Although a humbled Hades swiftly returns to the Underworld, Gaia comforts her younger son that she could tell that his brother at least appreciated the offer. Following the battle against Hades, Zeus and the other gods are called by Gaia to provide the humans a parting battle before they are sent back to their worlds.

During the side story, Zeus's time in the spirit world following his unexpected death at the hands of Ares is explored, and it is revealed that he relied on help from both Gaia and Zuo Ci in order to escape his prison until he was resurrected by the Coalition. Aware of Achilles's growing and insatiable battle hunger, Zeus has his children join him in a mock battle against Achilles at Guangling, where the demi-god is only partially placated though disappointed that they did not fight to the death. Hoping to sate his curiosity in a bout between the Gods and the Mystics, the two sides meet for a mock battle Sekigahara. To everyone's surprise, Da Ji had learned of the mock battle and also leads the Demon Army to join in the mock battle. While the gods are the ones that prevail, Zeus considers bringing both the demons and the humans as separate armies in their next mock battle, but Yang Jian puts the idea on hold until after they save the world.

Personality
As the King of the gods of Olympus, Zeus is a regal and arrogant god, with good reason as he is the strongest being in Olympus, and possibly one of the, if not the strongest being in the universe. His arrogance is matched with his tendency to manipulate mortals and other gods alike, even his own children, to his ends; with his arrogance, he is also extremely intelligent, capable of hiding his own goals until he think it's necessary to reveal them. However, his true personality far differs from what is seen on the surface: he is incredibly tolerant towards other beings, be it mystics, or humans, and genuinely cares for other beings as well, even going as far as using his own power as a trap for Odin. This true personality of Zeus came out of concern after seeing Odin escape his fated death and became obsessed with power and knowledge; concerned for the well-being of Olympus, the Mystic Realm and the human world, he did not want to risk all-out war as he knows it would engulf all worlds.

Character Symbolism
Keraunos, Zeus' weapon is the Greek word for Thunder or Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is one of Zeus' key capabilities as the Greek god of thunder.

Voice Actors

 * Takashi Matsuyama - Warriors Orochi 4

Quotes

 * See also Zeus/Quotes


 * "Father. I have something I wish to discuss with you."
 * "What's the matter? You look so stern, you remind me of your mother."
 * "Cease your foolish banter! Father, I realize how much you wish to understand the humans. But is there really any need to tease and play with their lives so much in order to do so?"
 * "That is because I wish to provoke a range of reactions from them. Mere observation can only teach us so much. People show their true colors when the unexpected happens..."
 * "No. You're just doing it for your own amusement."
 * "...Hmm, you can tell? You have grown, Ares."
 * "Do not try and charm your way out of this conversation. The next time you harm the humans for your own enjoyment, I will not stand idly by. Understand?"
 * "Hmm... It seems his love for humanity is not to be underestimated. I am sure he will watch me like a hawk, too. He is so serious... But I will not be pinned down. I will continue to play with the humans, until he is forced to challenge me. It will be for his own good. Hahaha!"
 * Ares and Zeus; Warriors Orochi 4

Ground Moveset

 * , undefined: Zeus uppercuts giving jolting enemies into the air.
 * ,, undefined: Zeus summons thunder clouds, forms a lightning axe on his staff and swings it, sparking the lightning from the clouds.
 * ,, , undefined: Zeus raises his staff and shoots a large beam of lightning forward. (The version used by AI is much larger and deals much more damage compared to the playable version) However with the release of WO4 Ultimate the Ai only attack becomes usable after Zeus is charged and can even be aimed although it's range is slightly shorter the attack duration is much longer and can deal massive damage.
 * ,, , , undefined: Zeus impales enemies on his staff shocking them with lightning and swings them into the air.
 * ,, , , , undefined: Zeus forms a large ball of lightning on his staff and slams it into the ground electrocuting enemies.


 * Zeus charges himself with lightning, forms a massive ball of lightning with his staff and sends it crashing down in a powerful explosion.

Rare Weapon Acquisition

 * Stage: Hope Amidst the Flames

Greek Mythology
Zeus is the King of the Olympians, and associated as the God of Sky, Thunder and Lightning. Often considered the greatest of the Olympian Gods, he is one of the most famous mythological being, his exploits as well known as his progeny, with infidelity caused him to have many gods, goddesses and demigods to be his children. Literature of the Hellenistic or Greek Mythology comes from a poem recorded by Hesiod in the 8th century BC called the Theogony, which recalled the rise of the Greek Gods and the fall of the Titans.

Zeus was the youngest son of the Titan Cronus or Kronos, Kronos himself is a son of Uranus or Ouranos, a first generation Titan. Kronos had overthrown Uranus in a battle, but was then prohesised to be overthrown by his children, just as he overthrown Uranus. In an attempt to make sure that this prophecy never happens, Kronos would consume and swallow each of his children whole, the mother of said children was his sister-wife Rhea. When Rhea gave birth to Zeus, Kronos was tricked by Rhea who switched Zeus with a rock wrapped in a blanket. Rhea then took Zeus in a cave in the island of Crete, which he was raised by a deity called Amalthea. As Zeus reached adulthood, he masqueraded as a cupbearer for Cronus, and when he was confirmed to be his servant, one of the Titaness, Metis gave him a mixture of mustard and wine which caused Cronos to throw up his consumed children. This was the start of a ten-year conflict known as the Titanomachy or the Battle of the Gods, which was a battle for the control of the universe with Zeus and his siblings on one side, and Cronus and his Titans. For ten years, the Olympian gods and Titans fought each other, in a series of battles. In the end, the Olympians won and imprisoned most of the Titans in Tartarus. Zeus and his siblings then divided the universe, with Zeus gaining control of the sky and lightning and became leader of the Olympians.