Isn't Heracles a composite myth about the deeds of several different people with that name? I don't know if this is true or not, but I found this comment online:
"Diodorus Siculus writes of 3 heroes named Heracles; an Egyptian; a Cretan Dactyl; and a son of Alcmene. Cicero raises this number to 6; Varro to 42. Herodotus says that when he asked for Heracles's original home, the Egyptians referred him to Phoenicia. According to Diodorus Siclus, the Egyptian Heracles lived thousands of years before the supposed Trojan war, and the Greek namesake inherited his exploits."
Almost all myths are "like that". We have no proof that hes different people any more then we have proof that egyptians just heard stories about heracles and then decided to start telling those same stories about an egyptian person.
Alright so time for the necessary: What do Scions of Hercules have, because it's better to be preemptive (looking at my players at least).
-Epic Strength (Duh)
-Guardian (I know that the cult thing typically lends itself to Mystery, but for me the best guess, with a look at the other things Heracles does [One of two guardians (other being Hermes) for Athletic areas], working beside Athena [The other big God who has Guardian] in the Gigantomony, some Ancient scholars saying that he 'made the world safe for mankind], some beliefs that he warded off evil [very vague and I suspect an approximation of Gaulish gods]. Also I suspect that his cult was more focused on protection, judging by the epithets, and the stories, then unraveling the secrets of the universe).
Skills Melee (big club).
Brawl (expert wrestler and boxer, many myths regarding that).
Fortitude (Mostly as a nod to his epic stamina which is not quite epic enough, but he did do stuff like hold up the world/sky for a while. Also, without sounding crass, he needs a high amount of fortitude for his sexual escapades. Between the two I'd say they're associated).
Marksmanship (The guy's stories with the bow and arrow are quite fantastic, but not fantastic enough for Epic Dexterity association).
Animal Ken (Here me out. The amount of stories he has about leading animals, hunting animals without hurting them, understanding the nature of animals, and the like is strong enough that he must have high amounts of animal ken).
Athletics (One of two patron protectors of Athletics).
I think i agree with your abilities(I also think we might have wirtten this somewhere as well). Im not sure about the animal ken though ;) Anne should chime in here see if we can find our original.
Although I see the automatic idea for guardian, and Im not dismissing it out of hand.....hes pretty much the worst to be around. LIke if you're near him....you will eventually die. Itll probably be by accident...but hes not really protecting you. Hes a lot like a modern super hero movie. Yes they defeated the bad guy......but so many millions died.
He certainly has some bad luck with his kids dying. That's for sure. Honestly, the other thing that I can think of, is ... not fertility, but sort of 'Virility?' I dunno. While I like health, as the purview of the healing, and I like fertility as the purview of plants/animals/bounty. There seems to be a gap between the two for human sexuality: motherhood goddesses, male fertility gods (which Freud aside, Hercules probably was), goddesses associated with childhood, etc, etc, etc.
But then again the Greeks are sort of focused on 'Gods of one or two things' so it might be that Hercules just has Epic Strength and a truck-tonne of Arete.
I do stand by my decision in the end though about Guardian, again relating it back to the Gigantomany, as without his help, according to one interpretation, the Gods would have lost. Also my counter argument is that a great deal of the death's occurred because Hera is a vicious, vicious Goddess who is simply better at causing Hercules hurt then Hercules is at protecting people, but that doesn't mean he's not strongly enough associated, it just means that Hera is better (as she should be, mechanically, Heracles is not a Legend 12 god. The Greeks and Romans were pretty clear on who the top Gods were, and he's not one of them).
Please be about Hercules and his labors and NOT leading an army of men against X or Y god....not another Clash of the Titans.
ReplyDeleteAlso anyone else think the Odyssey has HBO mini series legs? I certainly do.
Protip: Its about a dude leading an army :(
DeleteBUT! I was surprised to see that they at least do the labors
It looks like this version of the movie is godless, and they try to explain his labors organically.
DeleteHoly shit, this...looks...like...it could be a LEGITIMATE HERCULES STORY whaaaaat
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna hold out!!
Yeah, Im holding out hope
DeleteIsn't Heracles a composite myth about the deeds of several different people with that name? I don't know if this is true or not, but I found this comment online:
ReplyDelete"Diodorus Siculus writes of 3 heroes named Heracles; an Egyptian; a Cretan Dactyl; and a son of Alcmene. Cicero raises this number to 6; Varro to 42. Herodotus says that when he asked for Heracles's original home, the Egyptians referred him to Phoenicia. According to Diodorus Siclus, the Egyptian Heracles lived thousands of years before the supposed Trojan war, and the Greek namesake inherited his exploits."
Almost all myths are "like that". We have no proof that hes different people any more then we have proof that egyptians just heard stories about heracles and then decided to start telling those same stories about an egyptian person.
DeleteWHO ARE YOU?!?!??
ReplyDeleteHERCULES!!!!!
DeleteWHO ARE YOU?!?!
DeleteHAMMY!!!!!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHERCULES!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlright so time for the necessary: What do Scions of Hercules have, because it's better to be preemptive (looking at my players at least).
ReplyDelete-Epic Strength (Duh)
-Guardian (I know that the cult thing typically lends itself to Mystery, but for me the best guess, with a look at the other things Heracles does [One of two guardians (other being Hermes) for Athletic areas], working beside Athena [The other big God who has Guardian] in the Gigantomony, some Ancient scholars saying that he 'made the world safe for mankind], some beliefs that he warded off evil [very vague and I suspect an approximation of Gaulish gods]. Also I suspect that his cult was more focused on protection, judging by the epithets, and the stories, then unraveling the secrets of the universe).
Skills
Melee (big club).
Brawl (expert wrestler and boxer, many myths regarding that).
Fortitude (Mostly as a nod to his epic stamina which is not quite epic enough, but he did do stuff like hold up the world/sky for a while. Also, without sounding crass, he needs a high amount of fortitude for his sexual escapades. Between the two I'd say they're associated).
Marksmanship (The guy's stories with the bow and arrow are quite fantastic, but not fantastic enough for Epic Dexterity association).
Animal Ken (Here me out. The amount of stories he has about leading animals, hunting animals without hurting them, understanding the nature of animals, and the like is strong enough that he must have high amounts of animal ken).
Athletics (One of two patron protectors of Athletics).
Thoughts?
Though, more importantly, that movie looks amazing!
DeleteI think i agree with your abilities(I also think we might have wirtten this somewhere as well). Im not sure about the animal ken though ;) Anne should chime in here see if we can find our original.
DeleteAlthough I see the automatic idea for guardian, and Im not dismissing it out of hand.....hes pretty much the worst to be around. LIke if you're near him....you will eventually die. Itll probably be by accident...but hes not really protecting you. Hes a lot like a modern super hero movie. Yes they defeated the bad guy......but so many millions died.
That's just a running theme in Greek mythology in general. Tragedy, tragedy, crowning moment of awesome, then another serving of tragedy.
DeleteIt would be a shame to hold that against Heracles.
hes pretty much the king of it though.
DeleteHe certainly has some bad luck with his kids dying. That's for sure. Honestly, the other thing that I can think of, is ... not fertility, but sort of 'Virility?' I dunno. While I like health, as the purview of the healing, and I like fertility as the purview of plants/animals/bounty. There seems to be a gap between the two for human sexuality: motherhood goddesses, male fertility gods (which Freud aside, Hercules probably was), goddesses associated with childhood, etc, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut then again the Greeks are sort of focused on 'Gods of one or two things' so it might be that Hercules just has Epic Strength and a truck-tonne of Arete.
I do stand by my decision in the end though about Guardian, again relating it back to the Gigantomany, as without his help, according to one interpretation, the Gods would have lost. Also my counter argument is that a great deal of the death's occurred because Hera is a vicious, vicious Goddess who is simply better at causing Hercules hurt then Hercules is at protecting people, but that doesn't mean he's not strongly enough associated, it just means that Hera is better (as she should be, mechanically, Heracles is not a Legend 12 god. The Greeks and Romans were pretty clear on who the top Gods were, and he's not one of them).
Being a mother or a horn dog only gets you halfway up the Health ladder, not the other half.
Delete