"Why?"
"He was in love with her beauty; he wanted her to be his wife."
"He couldn't just ask?"
"The gods don't seem to do a lot of asking. He just sort of kidnapped her. Demeter was crushed. She walked all over the earth asking people if they'd seen her daughter. In the meantime, Persephone was sitting around in the underworld being really freaked out about it all."
"Why didn't she just leave?"
"She couldn't. Hades wouldn't let her. Besides, there are all these guardians to the underworld, and they wouldn't let her get past. So she had to sit there while Hades tried to convince her that things weren't so bad. Also, I think Hades must have been kind of cute, and Persephone sort of liked him in that weird 'I shouldn't like you but I do' way.
"I see"
... plants died ... pomegranate fruit was offered (because there was no chocolate back then) ... 6 months, 6 seeds ... seasons change ... THE END.
Heh. Never read an explanation quite like that before. Made me smile.
Funnily enough Hades was probably the best husband among all the other Greek Gods. He only attempted to bed two other women (one was a wood nymph - now forever made into mint by the wrath of Persephone). Persephone should count herself lucky. From what I've read, Hera didn't have it so easy with Zeus, who was like, the father of philanderers.
How sweet is this picture? He somehow manages to make the Rottweiler teeth and blue flames for hair look quite adorable.
