Ares


 * This article is about the character. For the episode of the same name, see "Ares (Episode)".

Ares (the God of War, Bloodlust, Violence, Murder , Cannibals and Cowardice), was the most recurring character on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules. He is the Greek god of war and violence, who has a strong rivalry with his half-brother Hercules, and a love-hate relationship with Xena.

He took Xena under his wing as his protege, sometime after she first met with Caesar. He also gave her the Chakram, sometime after she left Chin and headed towards the Norselands. He continues to follow her throughout the series, tempting her back to her old ways, but eventually gives up and turns into more of a hinderance than an enemy because he falls in love with her.

He also takes quite a liking to Gabrielle, trying to seduce her away from her travels with Xena and tempt her to become his new protege. The two become good friends, after he ressurects her in "Motherhood".

Ares' relationship with Hercules is fueled by jealously because Zeus, (their father), has always favored and liked him over Ares and his siblings. Thus Ares is motivated to constantly try to destroy his demi-god half brother.

Ares was played by Kevin Smith.

Characterization and Personality
Ares is the god of war and violence. He is primarily the patron god of Sparta, but armies from all city-states offer prayers to him before going into battle.

Though he represents the physical aspect of war, Ares is far from some mindless thug. He is, in fact, a brilliant strategist, preferring to plan his battles carefully rather than going into a fight with his proverbial guns blazing. Whenever possible, he seems to like the methods of getting other people to do his work for him or finding ways to get his enemies to destroy themselves. The latter is something he repeatedly attempts with Hercules, knowing that he cannot kill his half-brother without suffering the wrath of Zeus.

Despite the often chaotic results of his worshipers' actions, Ares sees himself as a subtle strategist, as befits the god of war, rather than the god of brawling. He also exhibits curious mix of sportsmanship and cheating when convenient for him.

In his relations with the other Olympians, he relies on the fact that they need him, so he usually runs his own schemes with little regard for the wishes of his colleagues, although he is still careful not to defy Zeus. He’s genuinely fond of his sister Aphrodite, though he rarely lets it show. Discord and Deimos (and his predecessor Strife before his death) are his junior partners, whom he bullies and directs.

His relationships outside the Olympians include competitive rivalry with Kal and a treasonous pact with Dahak.

And finally, he’s obsessed with the two greatest heroes of Greece: Hercules (whom he wants to destroy) and Xena (whom he wants back to her warlord days and is in love with). Most of his schemes these days are centered on those.

He often attempts to lure Xena away from her quest with Gabrielle, to join him as his Warrior Queen. He offers her huge armies and historic victories, great wealth and great power, and in later seasons his love -- offers which she consistently rejects despite being sometimes tempted. Ares also gave Xena her Chakram.

Noticing his half-brother gaining the love of their father Zeus, Ares has hated Hercules since he was a boy and has tried repeatedly to kill his younger brother. From teenhood to manhood, Hercules and Ares go at each other in a fashion similar to sibling rivalry, though Hercules gains the upper hand every time.

Wardrobe
Ares typically wears a vest, gauntlets and leather pants, all made of black leather studded with silver.

Powers
As an Olympian, Ares possesses immortality, enhanced strength, stamina, reflexes, senses, agility, teleportation, telekinesis, conjuration, flying, regeneration,invincibility, and invisibility, though it has been shown that Xena can sense his presence even when invisible. He can create fireballs,mind control, incinerate people with fire like he did with sysephis, has the power to create ice when he entomb xena, lightning bolts and energy blasts, Reality Warping (like bring people back from the dead), travel through time and stop it, shape shift, reveal the true form of another like he did with the hind blood, create portals, switching souls into the opposite bodies and induce insatiable blood-lust and battle-rage. As the God of War, Ares possesses combat prowess similar to Hercules and Xena and superior swordsmanship. Ares is shown to be a skillfull manipulator and a master strategist.

Ares can also travel through time and heal other people's injuries, but as with all Olympians, those abilities are restricted by order of Zeus.

So Being the personification of War, Hate ,Violence & Anger Ares is really a powerful Olympian God with powers like:

Immortality: Ares has the ability to live infinite life span as well as immunity to all sorts of diseases.

Invincibility: Ares is invincible to all sorts of weapons (swords,axes,crossbows) as well as all magical powers from the Gods although these powers can hurt him but not kill him.

Atmokinesis: All Olympians has the power to control and manipulate the weather bring out storms, tornadoes ,rains and Lightning.

Healing: Ares has the ability to heal wounds but he can't heal mortal wounds, Ares as well as the rest of the Gods has to be blessed by Zeus Himself or Athena's blessings to do so.

Pyrokinesis: Ares has the power to control and manipulate fire by throwing it from his hands as well as creating Fire balls or just by looking at the target he wants to incinerate.

Cryokinesis: Ares has the power to control and manipulate ice so he can freeze whatever he wants to

Teleportation: Ares has the ability to teleport to any place whatever he sees fit either on earth or Olympus.

Superhuman Strength: Ares super strength can send people flying as well as gods his strength is more powerful than Discord and Deimos as well as lesser Gods but equally as powerful as Hercules & inferior to that of Athena and Zeus.

Energy Blasts: Ares has the power to shoot powerful blue Energy blast capable of killing mortals and hurting Gods.

Time Manipulation: All Gods has the power to manipulate time by travel back & forward as well as freezing time itself but they need Zeus's consent first.

Invisibility: All Gods have the power to make themselves invisible to all mortals they can't be seen or heard by them.

Telekinesis: Ares has the ability to move objects & mortals with his mind.

Lightning: Ares has the power to shoot powerful arcs of electricity/lightning capable of killing mortals & hurting Gods.

Flying: Ares has the ability to fly to anyplace he wants to be.

Shapeshifting: Ares has the ability to alter his appearance to take whatever form he likes whether mortals or monsters or Gods.

Divine powers: Being the direct son of Zeus & Hera Ares was shown to possess Divine powers like.
 * Reality warping: Ares has the power to manipulate reality able to do almost anything he wants.
 * Resurrection: Ares is the only God apart from Hades capable of resurrecting any mortal who died even Zeus & Hera can't Resurrect any Mortal they have to combine their Strength to do so.
 * Conjuration: Ares has the the power to conjure anything he wants like objects and beings.
 * Shifting Souls to another bodies: Ares has the ability too transfer souls into different Bodies. 
 * Touch of lust for Battle: Ares when he touches people is able to induce them with battle rage as well as blood lust.
 * Portal creation: Ares has the power to create portals to other Dimensions as well as controlling the worlds he creates.

if Ares ever looses his Godly powers all mankind will loose the ability to control their anger and blood lust, not just that Aphrodite the Goddess of love will also loose her Godly powers because love must be balanced with War and vice versa
 * Mind control: Ares has the ability to control the mortals who induces the people who he makes within them the blood lust and rage of war.
 * Magical Windows: whatever a battle starts Ares has the power to see it's event's using a Magical window.
 * Revealing the true form of another: Ares has the ability to reveal whoever disguises him/herself under magical means like he did with Serena when she took the form of a hind he revealed her true mortal form by using this power.
 * Removing lesser beings & Demigods powers: Ares used this ability to strip Serena's hind powers as well as temporary removing Hercules's powers when he consulted with the other Gods by framing him for killing Serena.

Young Hercules
The main antagonist of the story, Ares is the god of violence and war. He is primarily the patron god of Sparta, but armies from all city-states offer prayers to him before going into battle. Ares also claims The Amazons as his favorite mortals (1.12 - Battle Lines II) and has been known to send them prophetic visions.

Though he represents the physical aspect of war, Ares is far from some mindless thug. He is, in fact, a brilliant strategist, preferring to plan his battles carefully rather than going into a fight with his proverbial guns blazing. Whenever possible, he seems to like the methods of getting other people to do his work for him or finding ways to get his enemies to destroy themselves. The latter is something he repeatedly attempts with Hercules, knowing that he cannot murder his half-brother without suffering the wrath of Zeus.

Hercules First Season
Ares never appeared in person, as his voice can only be heard in some of the episodes he's in. During the Festival of Dionysus, Ares poisoned the new wine and controlled Marysa and the other virgins to murder King Iphicles so that his loyal servant, Prince Pentheus, could become king. He gathered a group of young boys led by Aurelius to become bloodthirsty warriors. To feed his dog, Graegus, Ares manipulated Daulin and Poena into fighting each other so that he can gather bodies of the fallen soldiers. He even took control over Jarton's body. After Darphus was killed, Ares brought him back to life to feed Graegus once again and rule the Earth. Hercules, with help of friends, including Iolaus, Xena, and Salmoneus, stopped Ares in each scheme. The Festival of Dionysus, Ares, The Vanishing Dead, The Gauntlet, Unchained Heart

Hercules Third Season
Ares had often tried to make Hercules's life miserable as can be, especially when Hercules had married Ares' protege, Serena, the last Golden Hind. Ares told Hercules that he would release Serena from her vow of service to him, and allow her and Hercules to marry, if Hercules gave up his superhuman strength. Later, Ares' underling, Strife, murdered Serena and he and Ares attempted to frame Hercules for her murder. He was saved by the intervention of Xena and Zeus. Encounter, When a Man Loves A Woman and Judgement Day

Hercules Fourth Season
Ares had sired a child with the now-mortal Goddess of Retribution, Nemesis. The child, Evander, was born with supernatural abilities. Ares wanted to take the boy from Nemesis and raise him to be loyal to him, hoping to use him as a weapon against Hercules. However, Hercules and Iolaus managed to foil his plan and return the child to his mother. Two Men and a Baby

Later, Ares teamed up with Callisto, now a goddess, to trap Hercules in a passageway between parallel universes. Callisto (working with Dahak's daughter Hope) then turned on Ares, badly beat him in a hand-to-hand fight, and used a dagger dipped in the blood of a golden hind to kill Strife.

Ares plotted with his mother Hera to murder Zeus.

Hercules Fifth and Sixth Season
During Dahak's attack in Greece, Dahak tells his followers to kill the god who helped him out, that is, Ares. Hercules sends Morrigan and Nebula to protect Ares, because Ares dying allows Dahak to grow stronger. Morrigan and Nebula protect Ares, fighting white robed goons. Hercules talks to Dahak. Ares turns on Morrigan and Nebula, letting them be attacked, while he makes his way to the temple where Hercules is trying to exorcise Iolaus from Dahak's grasp. Ares gets his powers back, following the defeat of Dahak.

Later Ares chases Hercules into the alternative realm. Hercules learns that Nebula is the evil empress in the parallel Earth. Ares and the Sovereign fight because Ares has hinds blood. Ares stabs the Sovereign with the hinds blood knife and kills him, giving Hercules pains Hercules free the deities, with Iolaus tagging along. Ares and Nebula do the nasty, courtesy of the parallel god of love. Ares finds Hercules in the maze. They fight and eventually Hercules escapes.

Hercules turns invisible and Ares tortures him, as part of a curse planned by Discord, Deimos and Ares.

Ares and Hercules briefly teamed up to stop the Archangel Michael from destroying the Earth by unleashing the Apocalypse.

Ares was back to plotting against Zeus, this time by releasing two of the Titans once imprisoned by the Olympians, but Hercules and Iolaus stopped him again.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ares has appeared in 11 seasons of Xenaverse productions across three shows. Aphrodite has appeared in 10, Xena has appeared in nine, and Hercules has appeared in eight. Ares is the most most frequently recurring character in the entire franchise.
 * Kevin Smith also plays Iphicles, Ares II, and Jerry Patrick Brown.
 * Although the last two were consequences of him playing Ares, Smith was cast as Iphicles independently.
 * Like many of his co-stars, Kevin Smith's American accent was put on, as he was from New Zealand.

Trivia

 * Ares' favoured element seems to be Thunder.
 * Ares, Hercules and Athena are the only characters that have called Zeus "father" on-screen.
 * While Hera's hatred of Hercules is stems from him being a symbol of her husband's infidelity rather than his personality or actions, Ares's hatred is based on jealousy of Hercules being loved, liked or favored more by Zeus and humanity in general. Hercules's regular thwarting of Ares's schemes doesn't help their relationship.
 * The historical Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavius Augustus and Caligula considered themselves to be descended from Mars, Ares's Roman aspect.
 * Ares as seen in the series is a composite of his Greek and Roman versions. The Greek Ares was a bloodthirsty god who reveled in combat but was barely interested in strategy (more the god of battle than the god of war), while Mars was more of a divine general and tactician.