Ares has been Aphrodite's boyfriend for a millennia. Ever since Hera got upset at Aphrodite's effect upon the males of Olympus, most notably her husband Zeus. Hera was the one that had proposed that Aphrodite marry Hephaestus which angered Ares since he had wanted to marry her and was actually single unlike both Poseidon and Zeus who had vied for her attention as well. From that moment on and it was never any secret that Ares and Aphrodite began to see each other 'secretly'. Hephaestus once caught them together in a golden net of his own design, and invited the gods to come and laugh at their affair. Hephaestus seems to enjoy inventing new ways to humiliate the two, so Ares and Aphrodite pick the locations for their dates very carefully. Aphrodite also loves Ares more than Hephaestus and has had many children with him.

Ares' and Hephaestus' mutual anger and jealousy towards the others were united when she became the lover of some of the other gods and bore them children such as Poseidon, and even Hermes. Yet Ares was content that she always returned to him, something Hephaestus could not claim. That had been the way of it until 1945 and things started changing. Dionysus had a few visits with Aphrodite as well before Zeus became aware that he wasn't staying completely grounded at Camp Halfblood.

When Aphrodite bore a son to Hephaestus, Ares had had enough and knew that that child would bind her even more solidly to his misshapen brother. Taking the child unawares from his parents since their was yet another conflict in Olympus between the 'big three', Ares was able to take advantage of the confusion and mayhem to dispose of the newborn god. Ares used his mother's tactic and tossed the child from Olympus hoping that it would die. Unlike his mother however, Ares made sure the child was mortal when he was thrown off Olympus. Once again, the Fates had other ideas allowed the child to live (but as a demigod). That child was oblivious to his parentage and unaware that he had a type of 'aura' that made parents not want to adopt him.

While Ares comforted Aphrodite at the loss, the child was taken by some nymphs who had raised Hephaestus until he was nine. They left him ashore on an island where he was taken by mortals. Eventually he ended up near a certain home where he latched onto a mortal who actually didn't seem put off by him. It was there he decided to make his home. While most satyrs were dispersed to schools to watch for demigod children, Ares hadn't taken any chances and made sure that any satyr that was too close would go off towards the 'golden fleece' knowing that they wouldn't come back.

Since Thanos had been a child from the union of more then one godly parent, he put off a stronger 'scent' even if diluted to demigod status. He unintentionally was giving endangering anyone around him and unwittingly luring monsters straight to himself. That was how Terrance was exposed to monsters early and knew they existed without knowing that gods and such existed as well. Luck was one way to say they were able to survive without crossing any satyrs or worse monsters. Another was that Ares was doing his best to keep the fallen demigod hidden so he wouldn't be found by Aphrodite or Hephaestus yet hoping that a monster would finally eat the boys and had even tried to endanger Terrance so Thanos who was always with the boy would die as well.

When the boys left the island Ares was sure that the boat would sink but something kept them alive and able to cross the ocean to North America. North America kept involving itself in wars so Ares was quite busy and hadn't kept quite an eye on either boy for a while. Somehow they were able to stay alive and find fresh fruit as they traveled. Neither one really thought it any odder then being attacked continually by monsters. Once when they had nearly died, they met a man who told them a place they could stay to recoup. It was in Nevada, which appealed to Thanos. The place the man took them was the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

A few decades later Kronos began to stir and talk to Luke and Ares confronted him then was appealed by the idea of a war between the gods. Unfortunately Percy Jackson decided to be a continual pain in Ares' neck. Percy Jackson had retrieved the lightning bolt but also in escaping from the Lotus Hotel and Casino allowed for others to escape as well. Thanos and Terrance had used the commotion as a diversion and left the hotel as well to find themselves in a different time era and completely lost. The landscape had changed in the decades they'd been in the den of the Lotus Eaters.