KAOS, a contemporary reimagining of Greek mythology, revolves around a prophecy that foretells the fall of Zeus’ family. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Prometheus, Zeus’ best friend and prisoner, narrates the story, describing a world where gods rule from Mount Olympus and humans honor them on Earth by making sacrifices in their name.
Prometheus and the others who have lost faith in these gods are known as rebels. They have a plan to bring Zeus down, a plan that involves three humans and a shared prophecy.
Every human is given a prophecy at birth. Eurydice, also known as Riddy, Caeneus, and Ariadne, commonly called Ari, share the same prophecy as Zeus.
It states: “A line appears, the Order wanes, the Family falls, and Kaos reigns.” Each of them interprets the prophecy in their own way, unaware that they will play a significant role in the downfall of the gods.
Riddy, who has fallen out of love with her superstar husband Orpheus, wants to leave him but lacks the courage. One day, She encounters a strange woman, who is later revealed to be Cassandra, a prophet.
Cassandra tells Riddy that she will leave her husband that very day. Later, Riddy visits her mother, who, when Riddy was five, became a tacita, giving up her tongue to serve Hera.
Humans visit tacitas to confess their darkest thoughts, which are received by Hera and empower her. Tacitas cannot reveal these confessions to anyone.
Riddy resents the gods, blaming them for her mother abandoning her. As she attempts to leave town to finally end her relationship with Orpheus, she gets into an accident and is killed.
When humans die, they are buried or cremated with a coin, which allows them to pass through the Frame in the Underworld, a gift from Hades, to be renewed and reborn.
Riddy’s death leaves Orpheus devastated, so he takes Riddy’s coin to prevent her from being renewed, resulting in Riddy being unable to pass through the Frame.
Riddy must now work in the Underworld for two hundred years. There, she meets Caeneus, a diver who helps people with their journey to the Frame.
Caeneus, a trans man, was an Amazon. All boys born to the Amazons are sent away from their compound after the age of eleven, but since Caeneus was born into a woman’s body, he was allowed to stay.
At fifteen, Caeneus’ mother encouraged him to run away and be himself. However, he was later found by the Amazons and killed for defying the will of the gods by embracing his true self.
After dying, Caeneus discovers that his mother betrayed him; she not only withheld his coin to prevent him from passing through the Frame but also willingly handed him over to the Amazons.
Caeneus and Riddy, who are developing feelings for each other, soon discover that the souls passing through the Frame do not return to Earth to start new lives but are harvested by Hades.
While Riddy grows close to Caeneus, Orpheus meets Dionysus, the only child of Zeus who is still on speaking terms with him, although Zeus does not yet trust Dionysus with responsibilities.
Dionysus finds a purpose that might impress Zeus: he plans to help Orpheus enter the Underworld to bring Riddy back to life, a feat no human has ever achieved.
Dionysus takes Orpheus to The Cave, where Orpheus must win a quiz hosted by the Fates to gain access to the Underworld. When Orpheus fails, Dionysus gives the Fates Zeus’ watch to allow Orpheus to proceed.
Against all odds, Orpheus passes all the tests by choosing Riddy over everything else. He reaches the Underworld, with a little help from Charon, whom Prometheus loved and killed.
Zeus’ watch was a lucky charm, and he becomes paranoid after losing it. His paranoia had begun when a group called the Trojan 7, who do not worship the gods, desecrated a monument built by President Minos of Krete in honor of the gods.
Zeus fears that his prophecy might be coming true and keeps summoning Prometheus to share his concerns. He also confides in Hera, who is having an affair with Poseidon.
To avoid displeasing the gods, President Minos, who blindly follows Poseidon’s orders, sets out to punish the Trojan 7, but his daughter, Ariadne, better known as Ari, convinces him not to.
Ari accidentally killed her twin brother, Glaucus, when they were babies. Her mother never forgave her and still holds it against Ari.
When Ari starts seeing the Furies, beings who appear only to those destined to be punished for their crimes, her bodyguard, Theseus, persuades her to save a life.
Theseus takes her to meet his lover, Astyanax, the leader of the Trojan 7. He is the son of Andromache and grandson of Hecuba, the queen of Troy.
After Troy fell, the Trojans sought asylum in Krete but now face segregation and have no rights. Their oppression leads them to commit blasphemous acts.
Minos releases the Trojan 7 but later kills them on Poseidon’s orders. Ari is then taken by the Furies, who do not wish to punish her but reveal the truth.
It turns out that Ari never killed Glaucus; Minos has kept him imprisoned for years because a prophecy foretold that his firstborn would kill him.
Glaucus, kept in isolation, has turned into a beast known as the Minotaur and can only be controlled by Minos’ prisoner, Daedalus.
Ending explained:
The lies of the gods
Long ago, Zeus killed his father and absorbed his soul. Intoxicated by power, he continued to kill until he grew tired of it. He then asked Hades to create the Frame to harvest human souls.
The place where these souls are harvested is called the Nothing. The souls are liquefied into the Meander, which the gods consume to stay immortal.
The gods lie to humans, who are led to believe that by worshiping the gods, they will be allowed to pass through the Frame and be reborn on Earth.
Riddy and Caeneus discover that the gods have been deceiving humans all along. They also learn that they share the same prophecy and realize that the house referred to in the prophecy is that of the gods.
Riddy gets the chance to reveal the truth to humans when Orpheus comes to take her back to Earth. Medusa, one of the rebels, convinces Riddy to go with Orpheus, despite her reluctance to leave Caeneus.
Although Hades refuses to let Riddy and Orpheus leave the Underworld, as Riddy’s return from the dead goes against the natural order, Persephone, moved by Orpheus’ love, secretly helps them.
On their way back to Earth, Orpheus asks Riddy about Caeneus, and Riddy admits that she no longer loves Orpheus. They return to Earth, but instead of starting afresh together, they part ways.
Riddy then encounters Cassandra again, who tells her that she must now fulfill her purpose. She has to find Ari and reveal the truth about the gods to all humans.
The family falls
Ari decides to meet her brother, who recognizes her and does not attack. However, Glaucus is killed by Minos in front of Ari, following Poseidon’s orders.
Zeus wanted to prove that prophecies could be changed, so Poseidon instructed Minos to kill his own son. Witnessing her father’s cruelty, Ari kills him.
It turns out that Minos had misinterpreted his prophecy: Ari, the child who drew her breath first, was destined to kill him, not his firstborn Glaucus.
Minos’ failure to alter his fate heightens Zeus’ paranoia. He kills the Fates to try and change his destiny, risking the stability of the order of things.
Zeus finds his watch with one of the Fates and realizes that Dionysus stole it and lied to him. This leads Zeus to distrust everyone in his family.
Earlier, Hades had asked Zeus to let the Frame rest, as it was never meant to harvest all human souls. Hades wanted to renew some souls and bring them back to Earth through rebirth.
However, Zeus ignored his warnings about the Frame’s instability and struck Hades with lightning for standing up to him. Now, Zeus turns against the rest of his family.
He rations their Meander to make them more grateful and obedient. He decides not to give any to Poseidon after Poseidon confesses his love for Hera and asks her to leave Zeus.
Hera rejects Poseidon, prompting Zeus to decide that she will stay with him. No longer trusting anyone, Zeus takes away Hades and Poseidon’s realms, deciding to rule all three realms himself.
In addition, Zeus kills Dionysus’ beloved cat. He also kills his own former lovers, including Dionysus’ mother, whom Hera had transformed into bees.
While Zeus tries to teach Dionysus that love is a weakness, Persephone teaches him that it is a strength and urges him to leave Zeus. Taking her advice, Dionysus goes to Ari’s palace.
The coming of Kaos
After Riddy returns to Earth, Caeneus’ mother learns from Riddy’s mother that the time has come for her to die and carry Caeneus through the Frame.
The mothers of Caeneus and Riddy have been working to fulfill the prophecy, which is why Caeneus’ mother led the Amazonians to him and withheld the coin.
In the Underworld, Caeneus reunites with his mother, who forces him through the Frame. They then reach the Nothing to be harvested like all other souls.
However, Caeneus is able to renew himself and his mother, achieving what even Hades had failed to do when he tried to defy Zeus to do the right thing.
Meanwhile, Ari reveals the truth about Glaucus’ death to her mother, who approves of Ari killing Minos. As Ari avenged her brother, she gets her mother’s love back.
Ari, now the ruler of Krete, decides not to serve the gods as her father did. She vows to change Krete. She allies with Andromache, promising to rebuild Troy and destroy Olympus, as the gods destroyed her family.
While Riddy is destined to free the living alongside Ari, Caeneus is meant to free the dead. As they embrace their roles, the prophecy begins to unfold.
Prometheus is freed and warns that Kaos is coming. Zeus, realizing that fate cannot be destroyed, starts to bleed like a mortal. Meanwhile, Hera rallies forces to wage war against her tyrannical husband.