Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is set in a neverland version of ancient Greece that looked amazingly like New Zealand, complete with monsters, interfering gods and an off-the-wall spin on Greek mythology.
Hercules is a demigod, the son of Zeus and a human woman, Alcmene, and possibly immortal. Iolaus, a mortal, is his best friend. Together, they fight monsters, demons and evil warlords, including Xena, but she turned good after three episodes and went off on her own adventures, soon joined by Gabrielle.
It spawned two spinoff shows, Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules.
==Hercules: the Legendary Journeys Fandom==
Most online activity took place on different mailing lists and web sites that were divided up by their focus on certain characters or pairings, genres (gen, het, or slash), and ratings (adult or PG13). There was a great deal of overlap with Xena fandom, especially Joxer and Ares fans. 
Nowadays the fandom's grown rather quiet, but several mailing lists are still active. 
===Characters===
* Athena
* Athena
* Autolycus
* Callisto
* Cupid
* Deineira
* Demeter
* Gabrielle 
* Hades 
* Hercules 
* Iolaus 
*Iphicles
* Joxer
* Nebula
* Niobe
* Salmoneus
* Serena
* The Sovereign
* Strife
* Xena
* Zeus
* Xena
 
===Pairings===
The slash fandom was split off into various slash pairings. The show also featured a rotating cast of female characters, with plenty of opportunity for romantic fanfic. If there was acrimony in the past, it seems to be concentrated on the slash versus gen debate, rather than pairing wars. 
The large cast of recurring characters tended to lend itself to multiple pairings, as well as gen and adult adventure stories. 
* Hercules/Iolaus
* Hercules/Ares
* Hercules/Xena
* Hercules/Joxer
* Hercules/Deineira 
* Hercules/Serena
* Iolaus/Niobe
* Iolaus/Nebula
* Iolaus/Gabrielle
* Iolaus/Ares
* Iolaus/Autolycus
* Ares/Joxer
* Cupid/Strife 
===Tropes===
"These are light-hearted digs at some of the clichés that crop up in this fandom." See The KSA Archive slash rules.
==Sample Fanworks==
Hercules fandom was one of the first "internet fandoms," but it also created paper zines, both slash and gen. However, with the series off the air for decades, the on-site fansites may still be functional but no longer updated or maintained. Most are gone or decaying.
===Fiction===
* A Little of What He Wanted by Semiramis. (Iolaus/Iphicles) NC-17.
* A Midsummer's Nightmare by Roo (multiple pairings) NC-17.
* A Slave Muses by Emcee (Ares/Hercules) NC-17.
* Ashes in His Mouth by aly (gen)
* Extraordinary Day, With King by foxmonkey (Hercules/Iphicles) NC-17
* Giving Up the Fight by Kobra (Ares/Hercules) NC-17.
* Iphiklos by Isos Arei (Ares/Iphicles) NC-17.
* Iphsand by Kobra (Ares/Iphicles) NC-17.
* Mourning Becomes Ares by Amorette (gen)
* Our Boy in Blue by Narcissus (Ares/Iphicles) NC-17.
* Smoke and Mirrors (Hercules story) by Ghared (Ares/Iolaus) NC-17.
* The Best Revenge by Toridon (gen)
* The Helmet and the Plume by Ellison Wonderland (Ares/Hephaestus, implicit Ares/Iphicles) NC-17.
* The Wager by Erin ( Ares/Joxer) NC-17.
* Thick as Thieves by Candace (various pairings) NC-17.
=== Fan Art===
File:Wildcards5.jpg|Hercules and Iolaus, from Wild Cards #5, artist is TACS (1997)
File:Viewfromolympus.jpg|from The View From Olympus, artist is C.P. Foster (1998)
File:Bythesword4.jpg|from By the Sword of Ares #4, artist is Sophia Kelly Schultz (1999)
File:Godsdarkness.jpg|from Gods Darkness Desire (1999)
File:Celestialtoybox16-13.jpg|from The Celestial Toybox #16, artist is Barb Johnson (2000)
File:Lessthan3.jpg|from The Less Than Legendary Journeys #3, artist is Karen River (2002)
File:Celestial18-16.jpg|from The Celestial Toybox #18, artist is Simone Smit (2002)
File:Lessthan6.jpg|from The Less Than Legendary Journeys #6, artist is X (2005)
File:Buddies10.jpg|Hercules and Iolaus," art by Warren Oddsson, printed in Buddies: A Collection of Media Art 1958-2001 (2005) 
===Also See: Fanart===
* Hercules and Iolaus ("Look at this beautiful artwork of Hercules and Iolaus that I commissioned from the lovely eliounora! Such amazing details, I love it! I love them! 💛💜") (Jul 22nd, 2023)
=== Print Zines ===
"Hercules: the Legendary Journeys" was primarily an online fandom, with most of the fan fiction appearing in online archives such as the Iolausian Library, but it still produced some print fanzines.
Some of the zines listed also contain Young Hercules stories. 
 
April Fools | Blessings of Battle | The Brass Jar Series | By the Sword of Ares | The Conscience of a King | The Daily Muse | Discipline (Stargate and Xena crossover zine) | The Euphonius Scrolls | A Friend in Need | The Gates of Death | Gods and Heroes | Gods and Monsters | Gods Darkness Desire | Herculean Chronicle | Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Special Gen Collection | Honor's Path | Joxer Fairy Tales | The Less Than Legendary Journeys (zine) | Loose Arrows | Mistakes of the Past | Monsters R Us | Oracle | The Panathenea Scrolls | The Sorbo Sentinel | Thermopylae! | To Heroes | The View From Olympus |You're Hercules? | You're Iolaus? | You're Salmoneus?
=== Vids===
Vids by Mary Crawford, including a splendidly cracktastic Hercules/Widow Twanky Holding Out for a Hero vid, and an Iolaus vid Live Til I Die.
==Mailing Lists==
* Ares-Hercules-Xena (Ares list)
* AresJoxerCupidStrife (mailing list) 
* autolycusfic 
* CupidSlash (Cupid list)
* GoldApple (Iolaus list with a rating of PG13)
* Golden Lust (Iolaus fanfiction list)
* Hercfic
* Herc-slash 	
* Iolausian Corner (Russian Iolaus mailing list)
* Iolausian Mailing List (Iolaus mailing list)
* Joxerotica (mailing list) 
* joxer-luvs-ares (Joxer/Ares list)
* ksares (Ares mailing list)
* Mytherotica (Mythology mailing list)
* Strife Lust 
* SUJE (Joxer Mailing list)
* Joxer Fic Description: 	"Want to see Hercules' Autolycus, the Prince Of Thieves with the big blonde dude. The Golden Hunter? Dark and dangerous Ares? We're eager to have you share your general, hetero and slash fiction with us, smarm and beyond. The stories posted to this list will eventually be archived on WWOMB unless you make a 'DO NOT POST' notation. Stories posted should use the templete found in the submissions page on the archive. I don't have the time or inclination to monitor the posts for minor ears, so adults only. Be honest, guys." 
	
* Hercules Ares Xena Universe Description: 	"Herc luvs Iolaus, Joxer luvs Ares. Auto luvs... everybody and Xena, well it's a toss up between Ares and Gabbie, general friendship, hetero and slash fiction, smarm through BDSM and beyond welcome here, fiction archived at WWOMB, a multi-fandom, all genres fiction archive, unless there is a "No Archive" note in the story headers." 
	 	
* Iolaus Fic Description: "Iolaus, of Hercules the Legendary Journeys, has a large following in his own right. This list is to discuss the life and times of the Golden Hunter through discussion and the elusive story, general, hetero or slash. Any stories posted here will be archived in the WWOMB. Since this list accepts NC-17 topics, you must be over legal age to join."
	
* Hercules Goes BDSM Description: "There is something about The Hercules Universe that just screams BDSM me....At least it does to me. If you agree, join me in the sharing of chat and stories. All stories, be they general, hetero or slash, will be posted to the list archive(s) unless they include a Do Not Archive notation. Due to the nature of the list, joining confirms you are over legal age."
==Story Archives==
* Delphi is a fairly new automated archive for gen, het and slash stories.
* Less Than Legendary Journeys is a shared universe fanfiction archive with gen, het and slash stories featuring Hercules and Iolaus. Also contains Young Hercules stories.
* Iolausian Library is an archive for gen and het stories featuring Iolaus. 
* AresJoxerCupidStrife is an archive for Ares/Joxer and Cupid/Strife slash stories.
* is an archive for slash stories featuring Strife.
* Joxerotica is an archive for slash, gen and het stories featuring Joxer, Jett and/or Jace, all characters played by Ted Raimi.
* KSmithAres is an archive for slash stories featuring Ares and/or Iphicles, both characters played by Kevin Smith.
* Hercules After Dark was an archive for het fiction rated no lower than R.
* The Iolausian Corner is an archive for Russian-language fanfiction.
* The Iolausian Dimension an Iolaus-specific archive and fan site.
==Conventions==
* First Hercules & Xena Symposium (September 1998, Egham, England)
==Meta/Further Reading==
* Dare To Kick Butt In New Greeceland by Liz Sharpe
* The Hercules Bad Fanfic Drinking Game by Helena Handbasket and Auntie Climactic 
* The Confused Fan's Guide to Interpersonal Relationships in the Hercules/Xenaverse
* 
* (1999)
* We Always Hurt the One We Love... and then turn him into a sorry-ass, emasculated, mentally unstable, whiny, co-dependent tag-along by Helena Handbasket (1999)
* Zeus Doesn't Approve of Our Relationship by Randi DuMois (2002)
* by Liz S. (2002)
* (2004) This is the same as at The Shipper's Manifesto by LtLJ (2004)
* The Apology!Fic Rant by ltlj (2005)
* The Apology!Fic Rant II: The Mission by ltlj (2005)
==Official Fan Club==
The official fan club published the zine Herculean Chronicle.
==References==
Category:Hercules: The Legendary Journeys