Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the Greek God of the forge and volcanoes, as well as the patron god of blacksmiths and one of the Twelve Olympians. He is accounted as the son of Hera and Zeus and was considered ugliest of all the gods. He was also lame, with a crooked leg, but despite his deformed features, was a great craftsman and forged all of the lightning bolts that Zeus hurled from the sky. Abandoned by Hera as a baby, he was brought up by a sea nymph, Thetis, and so is also considered a god of the sea.

Hephaestus discovered his proficiency with fire and metalworking when he found a fire burning in an underwater cave. He sheltered it and noticed that when he brought different rocks and ores near it, they began to sweat different metals. He began working then and soon made various fabulous treasures for himself and his adoptive mother.

Hera soon heard about his work and demanded that he return to Olympus, the mountain home of the gods. Stubbornly, Hephaestus refused but did send Hera a beautiful throne made out of gold and jewels. Hera was very pleased, but when she sat down on the chair, iron bands sprang out of the arms, trapping her. The more she struggled, the tighter they held her, until at last the other gods pleaded with Hephaestus to let her go. Although Hephaestus refused, Dionysus, god of wine made him drunk and took him to Olympus to free Hera. After he had done so, Zeus and Hera presented Hephaestus with the goddess of love, Aphrodite, to be his bride, and asked him to stay in Olympus. However, Aphrodite was unfaithful throughout their marriage, most commonly with Ares, the handsome god of War.

The Greeks and Romans (who later called Hephaestus 'Vulcan') both thought that volcanoes and earthquakes were caused by the smith-god when he was angry at Aphrodite's infidelity. Modern volcanoes are named after the Romanised Vulcan.

In the Tomb Raider Series

Hephaestus plays into the Tomb Raider Series during Tomb Raider Anniversary. St Francis' Folly has a side room based upon the mythos of Hephaestus. The first room features a floor puzzle that Lara must walk upon without being struck by lightning that rains down from the ceiling. After the floor puzzle is completed, a gate opens allowing Lara into a room with a Greek Temple styled enclave and a giant Hammer. Looking carefully on the floor in front of the where the hammer hangs, the player can see a mosaic depicting Hephaestus working the forge.

The object of this second room puzzle is to have Lara arrange three centurion style busts in such a way that the gate to the enclave opens revealing the Hephaestus key. In order to do so, Lara must trigger the hammer to strike a pressure plate without getting killed in the process.

This puzzle room also features a hidden artifact (1/5 for St. Francis Folly).

In the original Tomb Raider game, the Hephaestus room was the “Thor” room. The puzzles again featured the hammer and lightning. Speculation on why Thor was changed to Hephaestus ranges from the fact the three other rooms were Greek gods and Thor was Norse, so Eidos had to change this room to Hephaestus to allow for Lara to hunt for Thor’s Hammer in Underworld.