 However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there.Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, (either six or four according to the telling) which forced her to return to the underworld for some months each year.She was obliged to remain with Hades for six or four months (one month per seed) and lived above ground with her mother for the rest of the year.