At end of last month, we announced our third major update, "Hounds of Zeus," is coming October 8th (if you missed that news, make sure to check out the teaser)! As of today, that leaves only twenty days before you will face Zeus' mythic hounds, including Aello, a fearsome challenger who strikes like lightning. Hear part of her story in the ancient myths that inspired her character design and attacks below, but first one other announcement:
The Voices Behind Dawn of Defiance!
Soon, the director and I will be sitting down to chat with our amazingly talented voice actors to share with you all their thoughts and experiences working in gaming and with Dawn of Defiance! Please leave us any questions you have for them!
You can post your questions in the discussion comments of this post, on our Reddit thread, or in Discord (make sure you have the Defier role from #welcome-and-rules)!
And now for the story of Aello!
Aello, the Storm
Aello (Ἀελλώ) is usually understood as something like “Storm-Wind,” “Whirlwind,” or “Storm-Swift.”
Aello is one of the two Harpies explicitly named by Hesiod, alongside Ocypete. Hesiod’s Harpies are interesting because they are not yet the grotesque monsters familiar from later art: he calls Aello and Ocypete “lovely-haired” winged daughters of Thaumas and Electra, sisters of Iris, and emphasizes their extraordinary speed. They can keep pace with winds and flying birds.
That genealogy matters.
Their sister Iris is the rainbow and a divine messenger, while the Harpies personify violent, sudden winds. So one way of understanding the family is that they represent different manifestations of the sky: Iris is the beautiful ordered phenomenon after or around the storm, while Aello and Ocypete represent its dangerous movement. That is interpretation rather than an explicit ancient doctrine, but it fits their genealogy and functions.
Aello is closely connected to the punishment of Phineus. Zeus sends the Harpies to torment the prophet, repeatedly descending on his meals and stealing or contaminating them. Later tradition explicitly calls these creatures the “hounds of Zeus.”
Aello also appears individually in Ovid. When Aeneas and the Trojans reach the Strophades, Ovid specifically says that Aello terrifies them. That gives Aello a slightly stronger identity than merely being one interchangeable member of the flock.
So conceptually, Aello is the harpy often associated with violent winds, sudden attacks, and the arrival of the Storm.
These details of Aello's history in the Greek myths are valuable for our team in ideating both her character design and her special attack abilities. When you play Dawn of Defiance "Hounds of Zeus" in twenty days, we hope you see this influence as you challenge her in Zeus' arena!
I will share additional stories of her sisters in the days leading up to our release, so make sure to stay tuned. I am likely to post our 10 day countdown only on our socials!
Get excited and talk again soon!