Charon is a minor character in Hercules. He is a skeleton who rows Hades' boat to his Lair. Charon is a ferryman for dead souls, and sends the souls across the River Styx for the price of a drachma. Charon is very greedy, and corpses are buried with a coin in their mouth to pay the fee.
In "Hercules and the Underworld Takeover", when Hercules, Pain and Panic bring a herd of sheep to the Underworld on their mission to liberate the Underworld from Hecate, Charon warns them that Hecate will be upset. Panic smugly reminds him that he would have to answer to Hades when he returns from the meeting on Mount Olympus. Growing nervous, Charon asserts that he just rows the boat.
In "Hercules and the World's First Doctor", on their way to retrieve Hippocrates' soul, Charon refuses Hercules and Phil passage because they're not dead. However, Phil is able to bribe him with a copy of the Greekly World News, prompting the ferryman to excitedly invite the pair onto his boat. As Hercules rows them along the River Styx, Charon enjoys the article bashing the Trojans. He then shows them the backward into the Underworld, so that he wouldn't get in trouble with Hades. As they part ways, Phil hands him the news scroll, which Charon continues to read.
In "Hercules and the Disappearing Heroes", Charon ferries Philoctetes, Chipacles, Hercules, and all the other heroes Hecate depowered to the Underworld to stop her. Noting how much Hercules goes down there for a not-dead guy, he offers him a multiple fare discount ticket and membership in their frequent "dier" program, but he declines.
Charon is first seen in the episode "The Price". After the Fury arrives to collect Robin Hood's soul to take him to the underworld, she accesses a portal in the river in which Charon appears. After Regina and her allies help defeat the Fury, Charon disappears.
When Hook succumbs to the darkness, he uses Gold's blood to create a portal to the Underworld. Charon arrives, with his boat full of the previous Dark Ones who have arrived to Storybrooke from the Underworld.
After Emma realizes that Hook's sacrifice was made meaningless by Gold, she asks him to open a portal to the Underworld to take them there. Gold summons Charon and Emma and her allies go to his boat and sail to the Underworld to find Hook.
Charon appears in the episode "Mt. Fuji Whiz" after being summoned by Xandra. He tells her that being a grim and sinister ferryman was just scaring away customers so he overhauled his small spooky boat into a big cruise ship and took on a much more jovial and energetic persona.
Charon appears in the episode "We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of" where he, once again, is leading the dead across the River Styx to the Underworld. Upon seeing Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood arrive, he immediately tells the three "You're not dead" and refuses them service. When they attempt to pay with drachmas to get across, Charon pulls out a dog whistle and summons Cerberus to chase them away, being slightly amused at doing so.
Interestingly, while his appearance here is accurate with past portrayals, it is not accurate to the book where he is shown as a chocolate-skinned, blond haired man who wears a nice Italian suit. He was also a touch eccentric, spoke in a strange accent, and was much more accepting of bribes from Percy and his friends.
Trivia[]
Despite making repeated appearances in the Hercules film and animated show, Charon is never referred to by name.
_01.jpg "Charon (Disney Hercules HQ) 01.jpg (201 KB)")
