Strumming in the Underworld: Unraveling “The Gift of Song” in Hades

In Supergiant Games’ critically acclaimed rogue-like masterpiece Hades, death is rarely an end—it is merely a bureaucratic inconvenience, a narrative checkpoint, and an opportunity to chat with the eccentric denizens of the House of Hades. Amidst the blood, sweat, and eternal recurrence of escaping the underworld, players find quiet moments of humanity. One of the most charming, meme-worthy, and surprisingly demanding hidden milestones of Zagreus’ journey is “The Gift of Song”—a Minor Prophecy that tests a player’s patience one awkward twang at a time.

What is “The Gift of Song”?

“The Gift of Song” is a Fated List of Minor Prophecies quest given to Zagreus. The official prophecy foretells that “the son of the god of the dead shall someday learn to perform music halfway decently through the teachings of a solemn master of the art.”

The “solemn master” in question is none other than Orpheus, the House musician, who spends much of the early game trapped in a state of melancholic writer’s block (and literal house arrest) until Zagreus helps reunite him with Eurydice. Once Orpheus is back on his feet and singing again, he inspires Zagreus to try his hand at the lyre sitting in the Prince’s Bedchambers.

The Grind: How to Fulfill the Prophecy

While many prophecies in Hades require defeating specific bosses or using certain weapons, “The Gift of Song” requires something entirely different: pure, unadulterated repetition.

To even begin tracking this prophecy, you must:

1. Purchase the Lyre from the House Contractor for your bedchambers (costs 1 Diamond).
2. Unlock the Fated List of Minor Prophecies.
3. Progress Orpheus’ dialogue until he encourages Zagreus to take up music.

Once unlocked, the mechanics are deceptively simple: interact with the lyre in your room.

At first, Zagreus plays the instrument with the grace of a dying cat. The sound effects are comically off-key, prompting self-deprecating remarks from the Prince of the Underworld. To complete the prophecy, you cannot just spam the interaction button all at once; you have to weave it into your routine.

• The Requirement: You need roughly 210+ total interactions with the lyre.
• The Loop: Because dialogue gates your progress, you generally have to play the lyre a set number of times, head out on a escape attempt (or clear a room/die), return to the House, talk to Orpheus if he has a floating exclamation point, and then play the lyre again.

Zagreus’ dialogue will slowly shift from “this is awful” to tentative competence, until finally, he remarks that he actually knows how to play a proper tune.

The Reward and the Resonance

Upon finally satisfying the prophecy, it completes on the Fated List, netting the player 2 Ambrosia—a precious late-game resource used to deepen bonds with companions and gods.

More than the mechanical reward, however, “The Gift of Song” is a brilliant piece of environmental and character storytelling. Supergiant Games is legendary for embedding emotional resonance into mundane mechanics. By forcing the player to physically interact with an object hundreds of times over dozens of hours, the game mirrors the passage of time and the accumulation of quiet mastery. Zagreus isn’t just learning an instrument; he is carving out a small hobby for himself in a realm defined by eternal torture and conflict.