Ares, later known as Mars, was a figure from Greek mythology. By one account, he was one of the Olympians, an advanced race from the planet Olympus. On Zeus's orders, he helped Apollo drag Prometheus to a cell and confine him there. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!) By another account, Ares and his fellow gods were native to Greek Space, a dimension composed of metaphor. He was a brother of Eris, and sometimes also the father of Eros. Ares fell in love with another of his own sisters, Aphrodite, causing chaos throughout Greek Space; Iris Wildthyme was able to broker a treaty between them once she realised that "the 'being defeated and enslaved' bit" was the aspect of war that Ares liked best. (PROSE: Wandering Stars) She later encountered him again in a tavern on Mars, where he believed that he had been trapped by the Roman god Mars; however, Ares later realised that he was Mars and had just gotten confused. (PROSE: The Calamari-Men of Mare Cimmerium) By one account, in which the Gods of Myth were otherworldly entities shaped by human belief, Ares was the individual later known as Hachiman, Mont, and in the 20th century Dennis. (PROSE: Salvation)
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Appearance
When the Fourth Doctor encountered Ares on Olympus, he was a heavy-set shirtless man wearing a blue bandana. (COMIC: The Life Bringer!) When Iris Wildthyme encountered Ares in Greek Space, he was short, scrawny and ruddy-featured, and looked to be only fifteen years old. (PROSE: Wandering Stars) When she encountered him again in a tavern on Mars, he was more than eight feet tall, absurdly muscular, naked apart from a ragged loincloth and gladiator sandals, and with matted hair and beard; he had a Greek-style helmet, golden with a red mane. (PROSE: The Calamari-Men of Mare Cimmerium)
When he appeared as Dennis in 1965, he wore the pristine uniform of a US Army officer, had stern, impassive features, and wore the brim of his cap low to hide his eyes. (PROSE: Salvation)