# Pluto — Metamorphoses character guide

> Pluto in Metamorphoses by Ovid.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** grim Pluto

**First appearance:** 0050-rape-of-proserpine

## Snapshot

Grim lord of the underworld whose abduction of Proserpine splits the year and gives Ceres her endless, searching grief.

## Who they are

Pluto rules the vast city of shades where a thousand gates stand ever open and new ghosts wander doubtful of the road. His seizure of Proserpine sets in motion the poem's most haunting story of loss, forcing her mother Ceres to scour the earth and bargain with gods. As king of the dead, he is both the poem's darkest power and the necessary counterpart to its teeming surface of life and change.

## In the story

### [Song of the Muses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/song-of-the-muses)

Pluto is the target of Cupid's arrow, struck while wandering in Sicily.

### [Rape of Proserpine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/rape-of-proserpine)

Hell's grisly monarch who seizes Proserpine and carries her to the underworld.

### [Boy Transformed to an Eft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/boy-transformed-to-an-eft)

Referenced as the infernal king who abducted Proserpina and rules the underworld.

### [Transformation of Ascalaphus Into an Owl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/transformation-of-ascalaphus-into-an-owl)

The ruler of the underworld who detained Proserpine.

### [Daughters of Achelous Transformed Into Sirens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/daughters-of-achelous-transformed-into-sirens)

Husband of Proserpine; shares her time with Ceres.

### [Book X: Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-x)

King of the underworld, moved by Orpheus's song to allow Eurydice's return.

### [Story of Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-orpheus-and-eurydice)

King of the underworld, moved by Orpheus's music to grant Eurydice's return under strict conditions.

### [Story of Hippolytus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-hippolytus)

Ruler of the underworld, whose will is defied when Hippolytus is restored to life.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/pluto
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters