Disney Dreamlight Valley: How To Unlock Hades

Disney Dreamlight Valley has finally welcomed players to The Storybook Vale as part of its latest expansion, and with it comes three new characters, including Hades, God of the Underworld. Unfortunately, Hades won’t be available right away upon entering this new land. Instead, you’ll have to complete a few other tasks with Merida first.

Once you’ve done the initial welcome with Merida, you will get the Royal Net, a new Royal Tool, and be able to explore the expansion a bit. Although Merida instructs you to consider checking out The Wild Woods first, where you’ll meet Flynn Rider, you can opt to unlock the Elysian Fields instead, where Hades resides.

How To Recruit Hades

A Land of Myth & Legends Quest

Once you have the option to explore, you’ll find that several regions of the map are marked off by Inkies. Similarly to how this works in Disney Dreamlight Valley and the other expansion, A Rift In Time, you’ll need to unlock each biome using whatever that area’s currency is. For the base game, it was Dreamlight, but for The Storybook Vale, it’s Story Magic. Despite the different types of currency, it is still earned the same general way by completing the daily tasks in your tracker.

Once you’ve earned at least 2000 Story Magic, you’ll be able to remove the Inkies blocking access to the Elysian Fields. Once inside, a new quest with Merida will auto-generate A Land of Myth and Legends. This is the quest that will eventually lead you to Hades and begin the process of unlocking him. To start, you’ll need to explore the area, but what you’re looking for is south in the area, where you’ll see an arch that covers a path leading down to a gazebo-looking object with Inkies inside.

If you’ve already unlocked Flynn in The Wild Woods, this should seem familiar, as his unlocking process begins the same way. Once you find the area described, your task will change to instruct you to speak with the Lorekeeper. After returning to the book and getting a little backstory, follow Merida back to the Elysian Fields, where she will stop in front of something that resembles a little flame whisp. She will instruct you to catch two of them in this area, which is relatively easy as they don’t move fast.

Once you’ve caught both whisps, return to the area in the south, and you should see two braziers on pillars on either side of a spinning lever. Place a whisp in each brazier and then use your Royal Net to spin the lever in the correct direction. This will create a portal where the inkies were and initiate Guts & Glory, Hades’ unlocking quest. Enter the portal to begin the quest with Hades.

Guts and Glory Quest

Once you’re inside the portal, you’ll finally come face to face with Hades himself. After speaking with him, I realized that several tasks would need to be completed as part of a trial. To begin, push the cart to Hades’ right and follow him through the open gate. The rest of the trial will consist of the same process as your goal, which is to push Hades’ cart to the end of the line by solving puzzles that obstruct it. From here, rotate the bridge using the spinning lever until it lines up with your intended path.

Once across the bridge and to the next spot, interact with the lever before you to lower another bridge you need to cross. Destroy the rocks at the end to reach another spinning lever, which will open a gate blocking the cart. Then, return to the bridge and push the cart through the gate you just opened. After that, follow Hades to the next location.

Here, you’ll need to fish inside the sandy whirlpool in front of you to pull up the bridge, which you can then cross. Spin the lever at the end of the bridge to move the stairs so that you can access the next area. There is also a platform containing a chest, which you can stop at to claim first. Once the stairs are lined up, follow Hades to the next area and, once again, pull the lever there.

This will lower a bridge with another lever at its end. Pull this one to lower a second bridge, which gives you access to a spinning lever. Once you spin that with the Royal Net tool, raise the second bridge back up so it isn’t blocking the cart, and then cross back onto the first bridge to push the cart to its final spot. Follow Hades one last time and interact with the source of the constitution, which will release you and Hades back into The Storybook Vale, completing the first mythical trial.

How To Begin Hades’ Friendship Quests

Build Hades’ Lair In The Storybook Vale

Once back in Storybook Vale, there are still a few tasks you need to complete to be able to befriend Hades. First and foremost, you need to formally welcome him as a villager in Disney Dreamlight Valley, which means placing his home in the valley. Open up the build mode tab and select his home from the quest-related icon with his face on it, as you’ve done for others in the past, and place the construction platform anywhere you like.

Once placed, approach the in-progress home and interact with the Scrooge McDuck sign in front of it. Scrooge will appear, informing you that this construction will cost 10,000 Gold Coins. Once paid, Hades’ home will be constructed, and the Welcome Hades scene will be initiated. However, to begin the first friendship quest and hang out with Hades, you’ll need to raise him to level 2, which can be done by gifting some of his favorite items in Disney Dreamlight Valley.