St George and the Dragon painting by Raphael 1506 (public domain image)
TOP 10 HEROES & VILLAINS OF MYTHOLOGY
Few things are as fundamental to mythology as heroes, or indeed, the very concept of hero which I would argue at its heart to be mythic (as well as the heart of mythology).
Joseph Campbell considered it as such, in his best known or most iconic book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which is also my sixth-place entry in my Top 10 Mythology Books. Campbell argued his theory of the monomyth or Hero’s Journey as the archetypal narrative in which the protagonist hero sets out, has transformative adventures and returns home. That is, the hero (ad)ventures into the mythic world – the supernatural or mysterious realm – and brings something back, not least himself in transformed form.
The word hero comes from Greek – and much of our concepts or narratives of heroism originates from classical mythology and Greek hero cults, as encapsulated in the ethos I quoted from Weston La Barre as my opening quotation. Although their stories could “serve as moral examples”, the heroes of classical mythology or paganism are somewhat at odds with the competing heroic narratives of moral idealism in Biblical mythology or Judeo-Christianity – “A classical hero is considered to be a ‘warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honor’ and asserts their greatness by ‘the brilliancy and efficiency with which they kill'”.
Of course, what often distinguishes mythic heroes is the depravity and destructive power of their antagonists, the villains of mythology. Unlike actual heroes and villains in history or real life, the heroes and villains of mythology tend to be more pure embodiments of good or evil – and more powerful, on a scale approached only by the superheroes or supervillains of comics (which closely resemble or even modelled on them), whether saving worlds or enslaving and destroying them.
These are essentially the criteria of heroism or villainy for my top 10 heroes and top 10 villains of mythology. Firstly, there’s the scale of how heroic or villainous they are in their moral character or ethos. Secondly, there’s the scale of how powerful they are, ranging up to heroes or villains capable of saving or destroying worlds (and beyond!).
Finally, iconic status (and my idiosyncratic preference) tends to trump all – although of course iconic status is usually gained from other criteria in the first place, with the most morally good and powerful heroes or most evil and destructive villains being most iconic in popular culture or imagination. However, iconic status is qualified by my greater familiarity with European or Western mythologies, which might overshadow iconic status within non-Western mythologies.
I have some other playful rankings within each entry for heroes:
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
It feels a little odd to rank the heroes of a mythology on a “scale” of the two most iconic superheroes of comics, but the Superman-Batman scale is surprisingly apt for mythology, arguably even more so than for comics. For mythology, the scale acts as one from the divine or semi-divine superman to the mortal who achieved their heroism through skill or training.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Pretty much what it says on the tin – ranking the heroes of mythology by deeds of punching out eldritch abominations, often literally
PARTY ROCK RANKING
The most playful of my rankings – ranking heroes by the extent to which they would rock out at parties.
And for villains:
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
I mean, this one was obvious after the punching out Cthulhu ranking for heroes – except of course it’s ranking villains not by punching out eldritch abominations, but by the extent to which they are eldritch abominations. Spoiler alert – almost all of them when it comes to mythology
DARK LORD RANKING
Again, pretty much what it says on the tin – ranking the villains of mythology on the scale of fantasy dark lords for destroying or enslaving worlds. Spoiler alert – quite often when it comes to mythology, particularly as fantasy dark lords, including the most famous dark lord of fantasy, tend to be modelled on one of my entries.
So, counting down my top 10 heroes and top 10 villains in mythology…
Vishnu’s avatar Rama as depicted by official character profile art in the video game Smite
(10) HINDU – HERO: VISHNU
‘Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.
For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,
and for the establishment of righteousness,
I come into being age after age.’
One of two deities from Hindu mythology I rank as heroes in my top ten, Vishnu is the more conventionally heroic figure, but I just have an idiosyncratic preference for the other deity – a running theme for two other pantheons in my top ten.
“Whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces, Vishnu descends in the form of an avatar (incarnation) to restore the cosmic order.”
Hindu gods can be incredibly complex figures, even more so to me as I do not have the same familiarity with Hindu mythology as I do with European mythologies.
In broad strokes, Vishnu is known as the Preserver within the Trimurti or trinity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma as the Creator and Shiva as the Destroyer. However, there are a few major strands of Hinduism, one of which is Vaishnavism which elevates Vishnu as the sole supreme deity “who creates, protects, and transforms the universe”.
Vishnu is usually depicted as blue with four arms, although there are two-armed depictions. Each of his arms holds one of his iconic symbols – a conch shell, a discus, a club or mace, and a lotus flower.
“There are both benevolent and fearsome depictions of Vishnu. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient being sleeping on the coils of the serpent Sesha (who represents time) floating in the primeval ocean of milk called Kshira Sagara with his consort, Lakshmi”.
Which sounds pretty chill, being a cosmic milker.
Ultimately, it’s his avatars that are his most heroic manifestations, being expressly for the purpose of saving the world as quoted above. In particular, there’s the Dashavatara or his ten primary world-saving avatars, elevated above his lesser avatars. The ten primary avatars vary “across sects and regions” – some include Buddha – but typically include his greatest avatars Rama and Krishna. There’s also Kalki, the tenth or final avatar as a messianic millennial figure similar to the Second Coming of Christ.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Definitely on the divine Superman end of the scale.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Well, he certainly spent a fair bit of time in his avatar as Rama punching out demons led by the demon king, Ravana.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Vishnu scores pretty highly for rocking out at parties, particularly in his youth as Krishna where he embodied the concept of lila – the ludic universe or “playing for fun and enjoyment rather than sport and gain” – and banging the local milkmaids or gopi. Which brings us back to Vishnu as chill cosmic milker.
RATING:
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The Hydra as it appears in art for Dungeons & Dragons, featured in D & D Beyond, D & D’s 5th edition online resource
(10) CLASSICAL – VILLAIN: HYDRA
The Hydra – or the Lernaean Hydra – is one of many beasts that roam classical mythology
And how does it rank tenth place entry in my Top 10, you ask? I mean, it was merely one of the legendary Labors of Heracles (to kill it), so why does it rank above the other fantastic beasts of those labors – or of classical mythology in general?
Well, a couple of reasons. It was a particularly nasty beast – any of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna tended to be snaky bad news
It had poisonous breath and blood so virulent it was lethal, even indirectly – such that Heracles used arrows dipped in its blood thereafter to deadly effect, although that came back to bite him eventually.
But the primary reason is for its thematic or metaphorical significance – I tend to be in mythology for the metaphors
The Hydra had one particularly nasty trait that made it exceptionally dangerous and difficult to overcome – it regenerated its heads. Worse, it multiplied them, so that for every head cut off, it sprouted two in their place
As metaphors go, it is particularly resonant for those problems in life that simply seem to multiply when you try to solve them, especially by means of brute force or direct action rather than finesse. Now that I think of it, most of my files at work are hydras
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION
The Hydra certainly ranks highly as eldritch abomination, coming as it does from classical mythology’s finest pedigree of eldritch abominations – Typhon and Echidna.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Sadly, not so high for fantasy dark lord ranking, possessed at it was of only rudimentary animal intelligence – more Shelob than Sauron.
RATING:
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Shiva as depicted in his standard game design in Smite official game art
(9) HINDU – HERO: SHIVA
The other of two deities from Hindu mythology I rank as heroes in my top ten, Shiva may be a more ambiguously heroic figure than Vishnu but I just have an idiosyncratic preference for him – a running theme for this and two other pantheons in my top ten where I prefer the more ambiguous and arguably anti-heroic of two heroic deities from that pantheon.
As I noted for Vishnu, Hindu gods can be incredibly complex figures, and Shiva is one of the most complex. Like Vishnu, “the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity” – “Vishnu and Shiva…began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped…Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra…the god of the roaring storm”.
In broad strokes, Shiva is known as the Destroyer within the Trimurti or trinity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma as the Creator and Vishnu as the Preserver. However, when it comes to the practice of Hinduism, Shiva and Vishnu are the big two with Brahma a distant and abstract third (or lower if you count goddess), reflected in Shaivism and Vaishnavism as the two major strands of Hinduism. The former elevates Shiva as the sole supreme deity “who creates, protects, and transforms the universe”, just as the latter does with Vishnu (although there are variations within these two strands which combine both gods as one).
Where Vishnu is usually depicted in blue hue, Shiva is usually depicted with white skin, albeit from ashes smeared on his skin and a blue throat, both with hardcore explanations. He has many iconic attributes – his mystical third eye, crescent moon as his crest or crown, matted hair, yogic pose, tiger skin pelt, trident, drum, the serpent or naga Vasuki as his garland, and the bull Nandi as his mount.
“Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome…in his fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons”. The fierce aspects usually fall within his persona as the Destroyer, but he has a dual persona as a benefactor as well – and we’re talking righteous destruction here, slaying demons after all.
“Shiva is often depicted as embodying attributes of ambiguity and paradox. His depictions are marked by the opposing themes including fierceness and innocence. This duality can be seen in the diverse epithets attributed to him and the rich tapestry of narratives that delineate his persona within Hindu mythology”.
Two aspects of Shiva particularly appeal to me. Well, apart from his representation as the phallic “lingam” – Shiva is a phallic god!. The first is his persona as Nataraja – lord of the dance. We’re talking the cosmic dance of creation and destruction here, as well as the other literal and metaphorical meanings of dance.
The second is the extent to which he is identified with Dionysus from classical mythology – to the extent that “the ancient Greek texts of the time of Alexander the Great call Shiva Indian Dionysus, or alternatively call Dionysus god of the Orient”.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Like Vishnu and Hindu gods in general, Shiva is definitely on the divine Superman end of the scale.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Even more so than Vishnu, as punching out demons is part of his epithet as Destroyer
PARTY ROCK RANKING
With his phallic lingam symbol and Dionysian persona, Shiva scores even higher than Vishnu for party rock ranking. And of course he’s a god for the goddesses, from his usual consort Parvati to the divine feminine principle, Devi or Shakti.
RATING:
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The Chimera as it appears in art for Dungeons & Dragons, featured in D & D Beyond, D & D’s 5th edition online resource
(9) CLASSICAL – VILLAIN: CHIMERA
Like the Hydra in tenth place, the Chimera is one of many beasts that roam classical mythology.
So why does it rank in ninth place in my Top 10, above the other beasts of classical mythology, you might ask? At least the Hydra was killed by a god-tier hero like Heracles (as one of his twelve legendary Labors). The Chimera was killed by the hero Bellerophon, not exactly in the top rank of heroes for name recognition from classical mythology, although his steed Pegasus fares somewhat better.
Like the Hydra, there are a couple of reasons – indeed, pretty much the same reasons as for the Hydra. As one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, it was a particularly nasty beast.
And it was a particularly distinctive one – “a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature…composed of different animal parts. Typically, it is depicted as a lion with a goat’s head protruding from its back and a tail ending with a snake’s head. Some representations also include dragon’s wings.” In its adaptation in Dungeons and Dragons, the tail with snake’s head ends up as a dragon head and tail, making it a three-headed beast.
However, as usual the primary reason is for its thematic or metaphorical significance. Its very nature as a fantastic hybrid has lent its name as a term for any “imaginary monster composed on incongruous parts” – or even more so for any “illusion or fabrication of the mind”, typically of a haunting nature or that of a fever dream. The former has seen its use as a term in genetics for an organism, potentially including humans, with more than one genetically distinct cell populations within its body – or in other words, more than one genotype or DNA profile.
Again, it’s a metaphor with some real resonance in life – or at least my life, which at times I think had been populated almost entirely by chimeras. Or is that chimerae? (According to spellcheck, it’s chimeras).
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
The definitive eldritch abomination of mythology – so much so that its name has effectively become synonymous with the concept.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Again like the Hydra, it fares poorly for fantasy dark lord ranking, possessed at it was of only animal intelligence – albeit a bit brighter than the Hydra, such that it seemed to have been capable of terrorizing a somewhat larger area.
RATING:
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Horus character profile in the Smite video game
(8) EGYPTIAN – HERO: HORUS
“Look out Set, here I come Set
To get Set, to sunset Set
To unseat Set, to set down Set”
One of two deities from Egyptian mythology I rank as heroes in my top ten, Horus is the more conventionally heroic figure.
“God of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history…these various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity…He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.”
Vengeful god Horus!
The best-known form of Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris on a roaring rampage of revenge against Set for killing his father Osiris.
Horus! The pharaoh’s champion!
While “the pharaoh was associated with many specific deities”, perhaps the most pharaonic deity was Horus, “who represented kingship itself and was seen as a protector of the pharaoh”.
Cosmic Horus! His right eye is the sun and his left eye is the moon.
No, seriously – “since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the Sun and Moon”.
Speaking of eyes, even his eye was heroic – “The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities…In the Egyptian language, the word for this symbol was “wedjat”
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Like Egyptian gods in general, Horus is definitely on the divine Superman end of the scale, even to the point that they have remarkably similar origins as infant children saved from disaster by their parents for divine greatness – except for Horus, it’s his mother Isis that’s the literal equivalent of Superman’s rocket launching him to safety from Krypton’s destruction. Isis fled with Horus from Set and raised him up for his roaring rampage of revenge.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
I don’t know about Cthulhu but he certainly ranks high in the punching out Set ranking.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
A little too serious to rank high in my party rock ranking but what do you expect from the Egyptian pantheon’s equivalent of Inigo Montoya – “you killed my father, prepare to die!”.
Also – you do NOT want him bringing the salad with his special sauce to barbecues…
RATING
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The Sphinx as it appears in Dungeons & Dragons, featured on D & D Beyond, D & D’s 5th edition online resource
(8) CLASSICAL – VILLAIN: SPHINX
What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?
Yet another one of the beasts of classical mythology, albeit at least one with some human component.
It has far more name recognition in popular culture and imagination than other hybrid beasts of classical mythology such as the Chimera, primarily because it did not just feature in classical mythology but also in representations throughout the ancient Near East – particularly in Egypt and most famously the monumental statue of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
However, that does bring us to an important distinction for a Top 10 Heroes & Villains of Mythology. The sphinxes (or sphinges as that is the other plural form of sphinx) of the ancient Near East in general and Egypt in particular tended to be more heroic. In Egypt, the human component of the sphinx was “typically depicted as a man” – or androsphinx – “and is seen as a benevolent representation of strength and ferocity, usually of a pharaoh”.
The Egyptian sphinxes are so iconic, particularly the Great Sphinx of Giza, that they tend to influence the visual characteristics or depictions of all sphinxes since, whether in size or Egyptian headdress or other features – even when those sphinxes otherwise behave like evil or villainous Sphinx of classical mythology.
And yes – it is the Sphinx of classical mythology that was villainous. Whereas the Egyptian sphinxes were typically depicted as male, the Sphinx of classical mythology had the head of a woman – and interestingly, as opposed to the wingless Egyptian sphinxes, it also had the wings of an eagle.
The Sphinx of classical mythology was also the one that had its Riddle, which it effectively used as its murder weapon. Okay, okay – the Riddle itself wasn’t the weapon. The Sphinx itself would kill you, presumably with its lion claws although the fact that it ate its victims suggests it also had lion fangs, but after you failed to answer the Riddle which it posed to all who encountered it.
As such, the Riddle of the Sphinx tends to have “dire consequences for those who won’t or can’t guess correctly” – and for the Sphinx if you did, which is how the hero Oedipus killed it, whether by the Sphinx killing itself from some strange compulsion upon answering the riddle or Oedipus taking a more direct hand in slaying it.
“The Greek sphinx was a single one-of-a-kind monster and enemy of mankind sent as a plague by Hera to punish Thebes and was the one that asked the infamous riddle and was bested by Oedipus.”
While the Sphinx has not quite lent its name to a metaphorical term like the Chimera – or for that matter Oedipus thanks to Freud – its name is used to connote enigma or mystery.
“Sphinxes are enigmatic beings. Some are merely monsters with inscrutable motives, while others guide entire civilizations towards goals only they understand. No matter the world, a sphinx is a mystery given form.”
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION
Well yes, as a hybrid beast it ranks high as eldritch abomination – arguably its human aspects make it even more so.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Unlike the Hydra or Chimera, the Sphinx would actually rank well as potential fantasy dark lord, particularly if it could focus its intelligence or mysterious nature away from riddles.
“Sphinxes are typically associated with knowledge in some form… Associations with magical lore and oracular powers are also fairly common. They’re usually powerful, rare and magical beings; regardless of their specific role in a story, sphinxes are rarely trivial creatures.”
RATING:
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Osiris character profile in the Smite video game
(7) EGYPTIAN – HERO: OSIRIS
Osiris is a black god!
No, seriously. Osiris was often depicted with black skin to symbolize his connection to the life-giving power of the Nile through visual association with the fertile black silt deposits from the Nile’s annual flooding. He was also “classically depicted as a green-skinned deity” through similar visual association with vegetation, although I can’t help thinking of the Hulk – particularly as Osiris is depicted in the Smite video game.
It was also apparently a mystical phrase uttered to initiates – Osiris is a black god, or alternatively, Osiris is a dark god. I’d like to say that it was a mystical phrase to initiates in the original Mysteries of Osiris but sadly I think it’s a reconstruction by the late nineteenth and early twentieth century esoteric mysticism that gave rise to the Order of the Golden Dawn and similar occult secret societies.
The other of two deities from Egyptian mythology in my top ten – his son Horus may be the more conventionally heroic figure but I just have my idiosyncratic preference for Osiris, similarly to my preference for Shiva in the Hindu mythology pantheon and my preference in another pantheon to come.
That may seem somewhat strange. After all, Horus avenged his father’s death at the hands of Set while Osiris doesn’t seem to do much else other than, well, be killed by Set. Horus and Osiris’ wife Isis basically do everything else while lugging around Osiris’ corpse like Egyptian mythology’s version of Weekend at Bernie’s – even to the similar plot point of Osiris getting it on with Isis and conceiving Horus while dead, albeit through Isis’ magic.
Osiris was the original Mr Mojo Risin’ – a hero of death and resurrection who rises to rule the afterlife. Osiris “was the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation”. All true heroes go down into the underworld. The Mysteries of Osiris apparently revolved around his resurrection.
He was also the original Good Shepherd – “Some Egyptologists believe the Osiris mythos may have originated in a former living ruler — possibly a shepherd who lived in predynastic times (5500–3100 BC) in the Nile Delta, whose beneficial rule led to him being revered as a god. The accoutrements of the shepherd, the crook and the flail…with whom Osiris was associated – support this theory.”
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Like Egyptian gods in general, Osiris is definitely on the divine Superman end of the scale, although Osiris more resembles the death (and regeneration) of Superman while Horus resembles the birth (and flight from Krypton) of Superman.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Not so much punching out but high being punched out – and pulling off that supreme divine gambit of resurrection.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Osiris is much more a party god than Horus, the latter tending to resemble that meme of a loner among partygoers – “they don’t know I’m plotting my vengeance on Set”. Osiris gets laid when he’s dead. What higher party rock ranking can you get?
RATING
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The Minotaur as depicted by Sam Wood in art for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition in the Forgotten Realms wiki. I prefer the art for this edition over the others as it showcases the more bestial and bull-like depiction of the Minotaur in modern fantasy, as opposed to its far more human depiction in classical mythology itself (essentially as human with bull’s head and tail)
(7) CLASSICAL – VILLAIN: MINOTAUR
Perhaps the most iconic and the most archetypal of the beasts of classical mythology – the bull-man (or is that man-bull?) stalking its sacrificial human victims in its Labyrinth and devouring them until it was slain by the Athenian hero Theseus.
The Minotaur needs little introduction, except perhaps a reminder that it actually had a name, something that blows my mind each time I recall it – Asterion or Asterius. As a bull-man hybrid, the Minotaur was classically depicted with the head (and tail) of a bull and the body of a man.
In modern fantasy, minotaurs tend to be depicted as more bestial and bull-like, usually as much bigger and stronger than humans – and typically with hooves rather than feet. They also tend to be depicted in the plural – that is, as part of a fantasy species – in marked contrast to the singular nature of the original Minotaur in classical mythology as a result of its distinctive origin.
You do not want to know that distinctive origin – it’s squick. Okay, maybe you do but don’t say I didn’t warn you! The king of Crete, Minos, reneged on sacrificing a bull to Poseidon and as usual when the gods got angry with mortals, they got…weird. “Poseidon arranged with Aphrodite for Minos’ wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull”. You can guess where it goes from there, albeit it needed Minos’ master architect Daedalus to make it happen with a cow disguise for Pasiphae.
Naturally, Minos couldn’t have the Minotaur roaming about the palace as family embarrassment, so he resorted to the stereotype of locking it up in the attic. And by attic, I mean the Labyrinth, the iconic lair of the Minotaur – also designed by Daedalus – where they fed people to it.
Yes, despite its herbivorous head, the Minotaur had an unnatural appetite for human flesh to match its monstrous appearance – which it satisfied from sacrificial victims, seven youths and seven maidens, offered in tribute by Athens to Crete, although the myths varied between an annual tribute or some other period. I’m guessing the Minotaur kept leftovers in the fridge for the rest of the period.
Enter the Athenian hero Theseus, who volunteered for the tribute so as to end it once and for all. The rest is, well, mythology.
Despite its singular nature in classical mythology, the Minotaur or minotaurs have recurred throughout popular culture and imagination, both literally and metaphorically, in adaptations or imitations. One of my favorites is the minotaurs in Sean Stewart’s Resurrection Man, essentially conjured from human bestiality or brutality by the wild magic force infusing the world after the Second World War.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
An archetypal abomination – “born from a union so unnatural that he can only sustain himself by consuming human flesh”.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Not so much in the original mythology but the Minotaur has surprising potential as a fantasy dark lord ruling from its Labyrinth, particularly if its intelligence is more human than bovine – or if combined with Minos, whether conflated as the one person (for example as a weird were-creature) or combined as a team (for example with the Minotaur as Minos’ “muscle”).
RATING:
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King Arthur as he appears in his official character profile art from the Smite video game
(6) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN) – HERO: KING ARTHUR
Arthur Pendragon, the once and future king of Britain.
It always intrigues me that a figure that, if not actually a historical warlord of sub-Roman Britain is at least portrayed as one, should have such enduring resonance in popular culture and imagination beyond his time and place of origin. And not just in his native Britain onwards or even beyond to the wider ‘Anglosphere’ of British settlement and cultural influence but also in Europe and Western culture in general.
For mine is the grail quest –
round table & siege perilous
fisher king & waste land
bleeding lance & dolorous stroke
adventurous bed & questing beast
Part of that derives from the compelling elements and personae of Arthurian legend beyond Arthur himself. His father Uther. The wizard Merlin. The Lady in the Lake. The sword in the stone or Excalibur (which are not the same but are often conflated in adaptations, notably the film Excalibur).
His queen Guinevere. The enchantress Morgan Le Fay (often conflated with another character, Morgause, as the mother of usurper Mordred). The knights of the Round Table – most famously Lancelot but also Gawain, Galahad, Perceval and Bedivere. The Holy Grail. Avalon – and so on.
And yet always and everywhere the beating heart of Arthurian legend remains Arthur himself, befitting his title as once and future king, itself from the motif of his messianic return. He is consistently portrayed in heroic terms, as the best we can be in ability and character.
It might seems anomalous that I rank Arthur over gods or cosmic figures from Egyptian or Hindu mythology – Osiris and Horus, Shiva and Vishnu. In part, that’s because of preference from my Eurocentric and Anglocentric perspective. However, it also reflects that those gods or cosmic figures seem remote or even alien, with an alien morality to match. That is not the case for the all too human Arthur, whose character and morality are much more relatable to us – and indeed has served as the archetype of the ideal king or ruler, both in history and the genre of fantasy.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Finally a hero more on the Batman side of the scale – not a divine superman (although there are elements of that) but the peak of human perfection.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
I am more familiar with King Arthur punching out human opponents but I seem to recall variants of Arthurian legend or at least adaptations from it when he punches out more supernatural opponents.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
We tend to think of Arthur as a paragon of honour, humility and virtue but I’m prepared to bet he could party hard at the Round Table or Camelot.
RATING:
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Loki as he appears in his standard character design from his official profile in the Smite video game
(6) NORSE – VILLAIN: LOKI
The supreme shapeshifting trickster deity of Norse mythology, whose shtick seemed to be screwing things up for the Hel of it before just wanting to watch the world freeze in Fimbulwinter for s€x, drugs and Ragnarok-and-roll.
Indeed, one might be surprised that I rank him only in sixth place – lower than two other figures of Norse mythology and children of Loki at that – given his ultimate apocalyptic role, arguably the equivalent of my top entry for Norse mythology.
However, that last feature is often seen as “adaptational villainy” under the influence of Christianity rather than reflecting his original role, which was more mischievous than destructive. This is also reflected in Loki happily knocking about with the gods (and being adopted by them), frequently paired up with Thor himself as trusted companion. And on the whole Loki lived up to the trust of Thor and the gods. Yes – he got them into sticky situations, but you really get the impression that he did so as a challenge to himself to see if he could get everyone out of the mischief he caused, as indeed he almost always did.
Ultimately however, at least in the popular version of Norse mythology we have inherited, he crossed the line into outright villainy with his role in the death of Baldur (as well as thwarting Baldur’s return from the underworld) and it was all downhill from there.
Also, I think it’s a fair call for his offspring to outrank him as they were monstrous and primal forces of destruction throughout, albeit he ultimately joined with them in the destruction of the world. They also take down the big two of Norse mythology, whereas Loki settles for settling scores with his longstanding enemy Heimdall in mutually assured destruction. It’s interesting that while Loki himself was not monstrous – at least in his fair appearance – he consistently sired monstrous offspring. I do feel sorry for his wife Sigyn, who remained the model of devotion to him despite everything he did.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
Not so much for Loki himself, although it is hard to fell with a shapeshifter, but certainly for everything he sired. I mean, whenever Loki got it on, it seemed to result in the birth of some monstrous abomination and usually a world-ending one at that.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Loki ranks high as a fantasy dark lord given his intelligence and abilities, arguably becoming an apocalyptic dark lord in Ragnarok albeit as one of what seems to be a committee of dark lords (and ladies), but loses points for his lack of focus because his true love seems to be trolling.
RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)
Thor as depicted in his standard art design in his Smite video game character profile
(5) NORSE – HERO: THOR
Hammer time! The people’s champion! Thor the Thunderer – god of “thunder, storms, strength, protection, fertility, farmers and free people”. Thursday is named for him.
One of two deities from Norse mythology I rank as heroes in my top ten, Thor is the more conventionally heroic figure and was “the favorite god of the average Norse farmer”.
“Thor’s exploits, including his relentless slaughter of his foes” – giants and other primal “demonic threats to the gods and mankind” – and his “fierce battles with the monstrous serpent Jormungandr”, including “their foretold mutual deaths” in Ragnarok. Spoiler alert – Thor smites the serpent with his hammer but is then overcome by its venom (within nine steps).
What else is there to say? It was relatively straightforward for Marvel Comics to adapt Thor as a superhero in comics more or less the same as he is in Norse mythology. That led to his adaptation in film by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his portrayal by Chris Hemsworth lent itself to Thor looming largest of all my top ten mythic heroes in popular imagination.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Definitely towards the divine superman end of the scale, except whereas Superman in comics is essentially superpowered by the sun, Thor is Superman of the storm.
However, he does have a certain Batman quality, relying on gadgets such as his hammer, belt, and gloves.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
It’s what he does – routinely punching out giants and the other eldritch abominations of Norse mythology.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Yes – Thor would thunder at parties and not just as depicted by Chris Hemsworth. He literally drains the sea as his keg in one of his stories.
RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)
*
The Midgard Serpent in its standard art design from its Smite video game character profile
(5) NORSE – VILLAIN: JORMUNGANDR / MIDGARD SERPENT
The beast of the twilight of the gods – Gotterdammerung or Ragnarok – in Norse mythology.
Indeed, along with my next entry, one of two such beasts that outrank Loki as figures of apocalyptic destruction, despite being his children.
And by beast, I mean “an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth (Midgard)” – literally encircling that is, an ouroboros biting its own tail as it coiled around the world. Hence it was also known as the Midgard or World Serpent, “the sea monster to end all sea monsters” – “there isn’t an ocean in Midgard that doesn’t have part of him in it”.
Admittedly it didn’t too much than slumber at the bottom of the sea biting its tail, but that’s just because it was waiting for Gotterdammerung. Once it stopped biting its tail, you knew things were going down and the end of the world was literally nigh, led by the Serpent itself emerging from the ocean to assault Asgard. Even then, it’s so colossal that “only a third of his body is able to emerge from the ocean”.
It amuses me that the gods threw him in the world sea when he was just a small serpent to drown him, only for him to grow into the world-encircling entity he became. Even while essentially dormant at the bottom of the sea, he had a long running feud going on with Thor – with each regarded as the other’s nemesis, as they ultimately proved to be at Ragnarok, with Thor smiting the Serpent but succumbing to the Serpent’s venom afterwards. Before that, Thor had a few run-ins with him even while he was at the bottom of the sea – run-ins so terrifying that Thor’s companions cut the Serpent loose to force Thor to abandon the fight.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
One of the most eldritch and abominable, arguably the archetypal abomination – and on the largest scale, in Norse or any other mythology. Indeed, it is uncannily similar to fantasy’s benchmark eldritch abomination, Cthulhu – with both essentially dormant slumbering under the sea, until waking up and destroying the world
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Yeah, not the brightest abomination, essentially just sleeping under the sea with a button marked “Push here for Ragnarok”. Indeed, one of the most mindless of mythology’s villains which costs it major points in my fantasy dark lord ranking – the other villainous entries from Norse mythology in my top ten run rings around it as potentially fantasy dark lord.
RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)
Odin in his standard design art for his character profile in the Smite video game
(4) NORSE – HERO: ODIN
If Thor is the Superman of Norse mythology, then Odin is Batman – the wily strategist of gambits and plans, indeed, a trickster more akin to Loki than Thor.
So yes – once again (for the third time) I’ve included two gods from a pantheon in my top ten heroes of mythology but just have a idiosyncratic preference for the more ambiguously heroic or even outright anti-heroic figure. In this case, a preference for Odin over Thor, as I did for Osiris over Horus for the Egyptian pantheon and Shiva over Vishnu for the Hindu pantheon.
To some extent, that was reflected by the Norse themselves. While Thor was the more conventional heroic figure and favored by the common Norse farmer, Odin “was preferred by the warrior aristocracy” who favored his “more chaotic and bloodthirsty ways”. Of course, that’s a matter of interpretation. To some, those chaotic and bloodthirsty ways were his “theme of self-sacrifice” and “ruthless actions…necessary for preventing Ragnarok”.
Odin was the god of wisdom as well as “war, death, frenzy (literal and figurative), magic, nobility, poetry, healing, the pursuit of knowledge and the runic alphabet itself”. Leader of the Norse gods known as Aesir, he had hundred of names and titles – with one of my favorites as “lord of frenzy” or “leader of the possessed”.
He was “famously one-eyed, as he sacrificed his other eye” for wisdom. When he wandered the earth (Midgard), he characteristically did so as bearded old man with wide-brimmed hat. “He is sometimes accompanied by animal familiars, such as the ravens Huginn and Muninn and the wolves Geri and Freki.”
“Odin is widely regarded as a god of the dead and warfare”, receiving slain warriors at Valhalla (“Carrion-hall” or “Hall of the Slain”) in the realm of Asgard aided by the Valkyries. “In the mythic future”, Odin leads the valiant slain warriors at Ragnarok. “In some later folklore, he is a leader of the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession of the dead.”
And of course, Wednesday is named for him as Thursday is for Thor.
Like Thor, Odin has had an enduring influence in popular culture and imagination. Probably the best known thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is his adaptation along with Thor and the rest of the Norse pantheon within the fictional universe of Marvel Comics. In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf has been likened to Odin as wanderer – and although it’s by no means an exact correspondence, there is more than a little Odin about Gandalf.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
As I said, if Thor is the Superman of Norse mythology then Odin is Batman.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Well not so much punching out eldritch abominations but planning to win or at least hold the line against them.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Odin scores high on my party rock ranking – Valhalla was a party every night!
RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)
Fenrir or the Fenris Wolf in his standard design art in his Smite video game profile
(4) NORSE – VILLAIN: FENRIR / FENRIS WOLF
The other beast of Gotterdammerung in Norse mythology – the ultimate big bad wolf, outranking his father Loki as a figure of apocalyptic destruction.
And by big bad wolf, I mean the biggest and baddest – so big and bad that he was bound by the gods with magical bonds (made by the dwarves as everything magical in Norse mythology was) until the end of the world which cost the god of war Tyr a hand as he insisted upon Tyr to place it in his mouth as ransom in good faith for being bound.
So big that his two sons (Skoll and Hati) devour the Sun and Moon respectively – and he himself when he breaks his bonds to assault Asgard (with the Midgard Serpent) opens his mouth so wide that his upper jaw hits the sky.
And so bad that, well, his sons swallow the Sun and Moon, the breaking of his bonds ushers in Ragnarok, he assaults Asgard – and he swallows Odin whole, although he is then slain by Odin’s son.
He is also the ultimate big bad wolf as it is theorized that the other big bad wolves in Norse mythology – his sons that wolf down the Sun and Moon as well as the wolf Garm that slays the god of war Tyr – “were originally simply all Fenrir” or aspects of Fenrir.
Interestingly, Fenrir started as a good boy, a cute puppy raised by the gods until they bound him from fear of prophecy that he would kill Odin and unleash Ragnarok (or perhaps because he was just getting too big) – a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.
“John Lindow says that it is unclear why the gods decide to raise Fenrir as opposed to his siblings Hel and Jörmungandr…theorizing that it may be “because Odin had a connection with wolves? Because Loki was Odin’s blood brother?…He also points to Fenrir’s binding as part of a recurring theme of the bound monster, where an enemy of the gods is bound, but destined to break free at Ragnarok.”
Bound monster – or as per one of my favorite tropes on TV Tropes, sealed evil in a can.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
The abominable wolf – one of the most eldritch and abominable beasts in Norse mythology, arguably exceeded only by the Midgard Serpent. It’s not often you get an abomination in the shape of a dog.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
Where the Midgard Serpent may outrank the Fenris Wolf, the Fenris Wolf outranks the Midgard Serpent for fantasy dark lord ranking – although it may be remembered for its bestial brutality, it had intelligence and even speech. And let’s not forget Sauron wolfed out as dark lord before The Lord of the Rings – literally assuming the guise of wolf or werewolf.
RATING:
A-TIER (TOP TIER)
Achilles in his standard design character profile art for the Smite video game
(3) CLASSICAL – HERO: ACHILLES
“Sing, Muse, of the wrath of Achilles”.
“Iron-hearted man-slaying Achilles
Who would not live long” –
The Shield of Achilles, W.H. Auden
It’s all classical mythology from here on in for my top three heroes. The villains of classical mythology may have been outranked by those of (two) other pantheons, but no one did heroes like classical mythology.
This is not surprising given that, as I noted in my introduction, the very word hero comes from Greek – as indeed many of our concepts or narratives of heroism originate from those of classical mythology, albeit somewhat at odds with the competing heroic narratives of moral idealism in Biblical mythology or Judeo-Christianity”.
A classical hero was a ‘warrior who lives and dies in the pursuit of honor’ and asserts their greatness by ‘the brilliancy and efficiency with which they kill'”.
And no hero illustrates that better than Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior and central character of the Iliad – of whose wrath the Muse sings in its opening line.
When people think of the Iliad, they usually think of all the things that aren’t actually in it – the whole mythos of the Trojan War in what is usually referred to as the Trojan Cycle, where in actuality it is an incredibly brief snapshot of the Trojan War – a few weeks or so in the final year of a legendary ten year war.
However what is definitely in the Iliad is the wrath of Achilles and his unmatched skill as the greatest warrior in the Trojan War – unmatched by Greek or Trojan, reflected in his feat of slaying the greatest Trojan warrior Hector, or perhaps even by the gods in face-to-face combat of arms. After all, he was only taken down by an arrow in the heel by the Trojan prince Paris – and even then Paris had the divine aid of Apollo.
As usual in classical mythology, there are different and competing versions – in this case for the weakness of Achilles at his heel, which has since lent itself to the proverbial phrase Achilles’ heel for a particular weak spot or area of vulnerability.
The version that perhaps looms largest in popular culture or imagination is that his mother, the nereid or sea nymph Thetis, had dipped him in the underworld river Styx as an infant to make him invulnerable – except that she held him by one of his heels, so that it was left untouched by the water and hence remained invulnerable.
Of course, that version is difficult to reconcile with the need for the divine armor and shield made for him by Hephaestus, as he would hardly need it if he was invulnerable. So there’s the competing version is that the arrow found his heel as the part that his armour left vulnerable, not his mother sticking him in the Styx.
None of this is in the Iliad, which is concerned more with the wrath of Achilles than his death – and it opens with the greatest Greek warrior Achilles sulking in his tent, because the Greek leader Agamemnon deprived him of the booty, in both senses of the word, of a Trojan girl taken captive. Until of course Achilles’ companion Patroclus is killed by the greatest Trojan warrior Hector – at which time, it’s personal, in turn until Achilles kills Hector and the Trojan king Priam begs Achilles if the latter could please stop dragging Hector’s dead body behind him while doing victory laps in his chariot.
The Greeks revered Achilles, with his tomb as focus of their reverence – venerated not only by Greeks but also “by Persian expeditionary forces, as well as by Alexander the Great and the Roman emperor Caracalla. Achilles’ cult was also to be found at other places…accounting for an almost Panhellenic cult to the hero”. I seem to recall one myth even pairing up Achilles with Helen in the afterlife, because it was only fitting that the greatest warrior should be with the most beautiful woman.
Others have taken a less favorable view of Achilles – “the Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles”, essentially that of “man-slaying Achilles” – a savage and merciless butcher of men” or even “ruthlessly slaying women and children”. This carried over to medieval writers and others since, who have favored Hector as the true hero of the Iliad.
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
Achilles readily fits into the Superman end of the scale as divine or divinely powered superman, as opposed to the Batman of my next hero place entry.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Well, yes and no – or rather no and yes. Achilles doesn’t punch out any eldritch abominations rather than other warriors, but he totally could have.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Well perhaps not when he’s sulking in his tent…
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Banded pit viper in Thailand, photograph by Rushenb and used as feature image for Wikipedia “Snake” as well as a featured picture on Wikimedia Commons (nominated as one of its finest pictures) under licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
(3) BIBLICAL – VILLAIN: SERPENT
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field the Lord God had made.”
That’s right – it’s all Biblical mythology from here on for my top three villains, because the Bible is unmatched when it comes to mythic villains. Indeed, I could have easily filled out this top ten entirely with Biblical villains (and can easily compile a Top 10 Biblical Villains – with many special mentions left over).
But you simply couldn’t feature villains of Biblical mythology without that original sinner, the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, at or close to the top.
This might seem somewhat surprising at first. The Serpent is not of monstrous size, operates on a similarly small scale (duping two people in a Garden), and has a walk-on one-hit-wonder bit part right at the start of the Bible. However it’s a bit part that has a big impact, changing everything and without which there’d be no story for the rest of the Bible.
That bit part was the successful temptation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit – the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as inexplicably in the Garden of Eden as the Serpent itself. That saw God forever evict Adam and Eve from the Garden – paradise lost, lest Adam and Eve then eat the even more forbidden fruit of the Tree of Life.
In Genesis, “the serpent is portrayed as a deceptive creature or trickster, who promotes as good what God had forbidden and shows particular cunning in its deception.”
Of course, the Serpent’s deception is even more compelling because, almost uniquely among animals in the Bible, it has the ability to reason and to speak. In short, it could talk, begging the question of why no snake has spoken ever since, because while God cursed the serpent after its successful temptation of humanity, He did not curse it with losing its ability to speak,
Speaking of God’s curse on the Serpent, there’s something even more eldritch about the Serpent that’s easily overlooked which is implicit in the very bible narrative itself – it had legs! Or as I like to imagine it…wings? God curses it to crawl on its belly as punishment for its crime. If I came across a walking talking snake, I’d listen to whatever it said too – and quite frankly, the whole Garden of Eden set up smacks of a classic two-man con played by God and the serpent.
The ability of the Serpent to reason and to speak, so close to our own, suggests that the Serpent in Eden may be symbolic for an aspect of ourselves or our nature. Or perhaps an adversarial aspect of God – or, as became the common Christian interpretation, the Adversary himself.
Anyway, serpents are a recurring feature in the Bible – after all, “in the history of religions, the snake is the “sinister, strange animal par excellence” – but I like to imagine that all serpents in the Bible are aspects of the Serpent.
Or similarly to the Midgard Serpent in Norse mythology, that it may have started as a small snake but it grew to truly monstrous size as the Dragon that faces off against the Woman Clothed in the Sun in the Book of Apocalypse. It doesn’t matter that the Dragon is set in the War in Heaven prior to the Garden of Eden – as an eternal being, it is outside the linear flow of time.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
It’s a walking, talking snake. So yeah.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
As the cunning and persuasive being it is, it ranks quite highly as a potential fantasy dark lord – although its lack of force as opposed to temptation suggests it is better suited to play the part of the Mouth of Sauron rather than Sauron.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Sadly Odysseus has not made it to the Smite video game as a character so instead I’ve used this shot of Sean Bean as Odysseus in the 2004 Troy film. See? Sean Bean doesn’t die in every film or TV series he’s in
(2) CLASSICAL – HERO: ODYSSEUS
“Tell me, Muse, of the cunning man who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famed city of Troy”
“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” –
Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
Yet again I rank the more unconventional hero higher than the conventional hero in a pantheon. I did it for the Hindu, Egyptian and Norse pantheons – and now I’m doing it for my top heroic pantheon, the classical pantheon. While the Greeks revered Odysseus, I think few revered him more than Achilles – and while the Romans tended to dislike Achilles given that they identified themselves with Troy, they tended to dislike Odysseus more, as “cruel, deceitful Ulysses”.
However, I have always preferred the Odyssey to the Iliad – and Odysseus to Achilles, although of course Odysseus also plays a key role in the Iliad (and even more so in the Trojan War). Part of that was growing up with a prose adaption of the Oydssey for children (The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin), which still remains the version of the Odyssey lodged within my psyche. However, I don’t think I’m alone in preferring Odysseus to Achilles as I think the former is better suited to modern sensibilities. And because of just that – thinking. Odysseus certainly could fight well. Just ask the suitors – oh wait, you can’t, because they’re all dead. What appeals to modern sensibilities is that he tended to think his way out of dire situations, rather than just fight his way out.
“Husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus…Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility…he is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning…He is most famous for his nostos or “homecoming”, which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.”
The Odyssey is a ten year maritime magical mystery tour – or dare I say it, Poseidon adventure, as the Greek hero Odysseus just tries to return to his kingdom Ithaca after the Trojan War, barely escaping death as he is tossed from flotsam to jetsam in one shipwreck after another from Poseidon’s wrath. I mean, seriously, he could have walked home faster from Turkey to Greece, although Poseidon probably still would have got him somehow. And he loses all his ships and men en route, returning home as lone survivor – and stranger, as even then he has to remain disguised as a beggar to infiltrate his own household and outwit his wife Penelope’s persistent suitors partying it up there. And let me tell you, every dog has its day. Literally and heartbreakingly, as he is recognized by his faithful dog Argos who has awaited his return for twenty years (only to finally pass away with that last effort). But also figuratively and with undeniable satisfaction as he outwits and defeats the suitors.
“Evidence suggests the existence of a cult dedicated to Odysseus on Ithaca. This evidence includes public games called the Odysseia and a designated public gathering place or a sanctuary, known as the Odysseion.”
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
As I foreshadowed in my entry for Achilles, Odysseus is the Batman to Achille’s Superman.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
Now we’re getting to another reason, perhaps even the reason, why I rank Odysseus over Achilles as a hero. Achilles may have been the greatest Greek warrior but he just spent his time fighting other warriors – where the Odyssey is quite literally Odysseus punching out one eldritch abomination after another.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
And yet another reason for ranking Odysseus over Achilles as hero – Odysseus could just rock a party harder. In between punching out eldritch abominations in the Odyssey, Odysseus spent his time shacking up with the ladies – indeed, that’s what he did for most of those ten years of his homecoming, one year with Circe and seven years with Calypso for eight years out of ten.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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African leopard at H4-2 Road North of Crocodile Bridge, Kruger NP, Mpumalanga, SOUTH AFRICA – photo by Bernard Dupont and used in Wikipedia “Leopard” under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
(2) BIBLICAL – VILLAIN: BEAST
“Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666.”
The Beast of the Apocalypse – or as I like to call it, that sixy beast.
The ultimate Biblical bad boy, bar one.
Biblical beasts are surprisingly prolific. Even the reference to Beast of the Apocalypse doesn’t exactly narrow it down as a significant number of those Biblical beasts ARE beasts of the Apocalypse.
Hell (heh), there’s even two beasts introduced in the very chapter in which the Beast of the Apocalypse makes debut appearance – the beast of the earth, “later revealed in the text to be a false prophet”, and the beast of the sea, “commonly identified as the Antichrist”.
It is the beast of the sea that is the one labelled the Great Beast or Beast of the Apocalypse, indeed the one that comes to mind most in popular consciousness upon reference to the Beast of the Apocalypse – and not just because it pops out of the sea like some swimsuit scene in the middle of the Book of Apocalypse.
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea”.
It’s not just because of its monstrous hybrid form.
“Having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion”.
It’s not just because it seems to have resurrected from death.
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed”.
It’s not even just because that death and resurrection among other trappings invoke it being identified as the Antichrist, the infernal inversion of Jesus.
“And the world wondered after the beast…They worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
It’s because of this Beast has its mystique – with the Image of the Beast, the Mark of the Beast, and above all, the Number of the Beast, that infamous 666. Or is that 616?
The text itself exhorts the reader that the Number of the Beast is essentially symbolic code for a man – “and the broad consensus in contemporary scholarship that the number of the beast refers to the Roman Emperor Nero”. As I understand it, that’s because 666 was alphanumeric code for “Nero Caesar” written in Hebrew letters. There was a variant code for 616, hence that Number of the Beast popped up in some manuscripts, but it just doesn’t have the same resonance of 666.
Well, Nero or some weird revenant superpowered uber-Nero, with one of the heads of the beast having healed from a fatal wound, matching the so-called Nero Redivivus Legend, or the widespread belief that Nero was either not dead after his apparent suicide or somehow would return.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
“Having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion”.
Yeah – we’re talking high eldritch abomination ranking.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
We’re also talking high fantasy dark lord ranking, because the Beast of the Apocalypse actually reigns as fantasy dark lord in its own text. However, even during its reign it does seem to play the role of lieutenant to a higher or in this case lower power, a role TV Tropes dubs as the dragon, ironically enough to the figure in the Book of Apocalypse known as the Dragon or Great Red Dragon. If the Serpent is more akin to the Mouth of Sauron, the Beast is the muscle – more akin to the Witch-King or lord of the Nazgul.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Heracles or Hercules as he appears in the standard design art in his Smite video game profile
(1) CLASSICAL – HERO: HERACLES
“Long ago, in the far away land of ancient Greece, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules.”
Classical mythology’s greatest and most famous hero, known as Hercules in Latin – hence the name in my feature quote from and title of the Disney film.
“Son of Zeus and mortal Queen Alcmene…His name means glory of Hera (explanations for this name are varied), but she hated him and tried her best to kill him since his infancy.”
Hera’s attempt to kill him involved her sending two giant serpents but the infant Heracles just strangled both of them, one in each hand. Speaking of him as infant, he was originally born with the name Alcaeus or Alcides but subsequently assumed his more famous name.
Heracles was “a divine hero in Greek mythology…the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well.”
His most famous feats were the Twelve Labors usually named for him (as the Twelve Labors of Heracles), although the term labors made them sound like chores rather than the impossible tasks they were unless you were superhuman.
However, as distinctive as his Twelve Labours were, they are but part of his feats of heroism – which amusingly, he often did as side quests while engaged in other feats of heroism. His feats of heroism were made even more impressive because he couldn’t and didn’t just use his superhuman strength to punch his way out of them but like Odysseus thought his way out of tricky situations almost as much as he fought his way out.
A divine hero and demi-god during his life, after his death he had an apotheosis to become fully a god, ascending to Olympus as god of strength and heroism while marrying the goddess of youth Hebe.
“The core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. It is possible that the myths surrounding Heracles were based on the life of a real person or several people whose accomplishments became exaggerated with time.”
SUPERMAN-BATMAN SCALE
The archetypal divine superman, although he could use his wits like Batman as well.
PUNCHING OUT CTHULHU RANKING
And how! He was the best at what he did and what he did was punching out eldritch abominations. He literally punched out Death.
PARTY ROCK RANKING
Heracles could get down and party like the divine superhuman hero he was – although arguably it cost him his mortal life (through the dying centaur Nessus manipulating his wife) but then he just rose up to Olympus and partied on as a full god.
RATING: 5 STARS*****
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Lucifer as depicted in the Dante’s Inferno video game
(1) BIBLICAL – VILLAIN: SATAN
“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.”
“Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste.”
Who else? Was there ever any doubt as to mythology’s most villainous villain but the Devil himself – “the single most evil being in existence”, ur-villain and uber-villain who “seduces humans into sin and falsehood” with “power over the fallen world and a host of demons”.
As the Big Bad of the Bible, Satan is cast as the villain in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, particularly the latter two as the largest religions in the world.
Interestingly, he didn’t start that way. He didn’t even start as a proper noun. His origin was as a satan, meaning adversary or opponent, although a figure emerged with the definite article, known as “the satan” who “first appears in the Hebrew Bible as a heavenly prosecutor, subordinate to Yahweh (God)”.
Over time, this figure “developed into a malevolent entity with abhorrent qualities in dualistic opposition to God, possibly due to Persian influence “from the Zoroastrian figure of Angra Mainyu” (or Ahriman).
By the New Testament, a least “the later texts”, Satan emerged as close to an anti-God figure – “an incredibly powerful and absolutely malevolent cosmic entity far beyond human ability to fathom”, indeed styled as lord of this world or even god of this world. “Fortunately for humanity, he lacks the absolute omnipotence and omniscience of the one true God, which is why the final victory of good over evil is still assured, in spite of his cosmic near-supremacy”.
The Book of Revelations gave him his backstory as fallen angel, albeit drawing on other Biblical bits and pieces, depicted as the Great Red Dragon waging war in Heaven against God and dragging down a third of all angels with him to Hell when he lost.
As he arose or rather fell from Heaven as this figure of cosmic evil in the New Testament, he absorbed those “autonomous and unambiguously evil spirit powers” that do appear in the Old Testament – gods such as Baal of rival nations, the morning star or shining one (light-bringer) of Isaiah that lent itself to that leitmotif of the fallen angel, and the monstrous Leviathan or cosmic dragon figure.
ELDRITCH ABOMINATION RANKING
Perhaps not originally as “the most beautiful angel”, a guise or mask he can still wear, but usually as his default ‘true form’.
FANTASY DARK LORD RANKING
The archetypal fantasy dark lord – so much so that TV Tropes has a trope named for it as Satanic Archetype – with many of the dark lords of cinematic or literary fantasy being explicitly modelled on him.
RATING: 5 STARS***** (OR SHOULD THAT BE 6 STARS – OR 666 STARS?)
S-TIER (DEVIL TIER – OF COURSE!)
