Hercules

**Hercules** ( **Ἡρακλῆς**), born **Alcaeus** (**Ἀλκαῖος**) and also known as **Heracles**, is a hero of superhuman strength and courage who performed twelve immense tasks or "labors" imposed on him and who after death was ranked among the gods.

## Biography

### Early Life

When Hera freaked out because Zeus had been cheating on her with a mere mortal, she sent a bunch of snakes to kill Hercules, the illegitimate babe in the cradle. He was originally born Alcaeus, but was renamed to honor Hera. She was later tricked by Athena into nursing him, imbuing him with superhuman strength.

### The Twelve Labors

Hercules, son of Zeus and champion of humankind, gazed in horror as he realized he had just committed the most unspeakable crime imaginable. The goddess Hera, who hated Hercules for being born of her husband's adultery, had stricken him with a temporary curse of madness, and his own family were the casualties.

Consumed by grief, Hercules sought out the Oracle of Delphi, who told him the path to atonement laid with his cousin, King Eurystheus of Tiryns, a favorite of Hera's. Eurystheus hoped to humiliate Hercules with ten impossible tasks that pitted him against invincible monsters and unfathomable forces. Instead, the king set the stage for an epic series of adventures that would come to be known as the Labors of Hercules.

The first labor was to slay the Nemean Lion, who kidnapped women and devoured warriors. Its golden fur was impervious to arrows, but Hercules cornered the lion in its dark cave, stunned it with a club, and strangled it with his bare hands. He found no tool sharp enough to skin the beast, until the goddess Athena suggested using one of its own claws. Hercules returned to Tiryns wearing the lion's hide, frightening King Eurystheus so much that he hid in a wine jar. From then on, Hercules was ordered to present his trophies at a safe distance.

The second target was the Lernaean Hydra, a giant serpent with many heads. Hercules fought fiercely, but every time he cut one head off, two more grew in its place. The battle was hopeless until his nephew Iolaus thought to cauterize the necks with fire, keeping the heads from regrowing. The dead serpent's remains became the Hydra constellation.

Instead of slaying a beast, Hercules next had to catch one, alive. The Ceryneian Hind was a female deer so fast it could outrun an arrow. Hercules tracked it for a year, finally trapping it in the northern land of Hyperborea. The animal turned out to be sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and Hercules swore to return it. When Eurystheus saw the hind, he demanded to keep it instead, but as soon as Hercules let go, the animal ran to its mistress. Thus, Hercules completed his task without breaking his promise.

The fourth mission was to capture the Erymanthian boar, which had ravaged many fields. Advised by the wise centaur Chiron, Hercules trapped it by chasing it into thick snow.

For the fifth task, there were no animals, just their leftovers. The stables where King Augeas kept his hundreds of divine cattle had not been maintained in ages. Hercules promised to clean them in one day if he could keep one-tenth of their livestock. Augeas expected the hero to fail. Instead, Hercules dug massive trenches, rerouting two nearby rivers to flow through the stables until they were spotless.

Next came three more beastly foes, each requiring a clever strategy to defeat. The carnivorous Stymphalian birds nested in an impenetrable swamp, but Hercules used Athena's special rattle to frighten them into the air, at which point he shot them down.

No mortal could stand the Cretan bull's mad rampage, but a chokehold from behind did the trick.

The mad King Diomedes, who had trained his horses to devour his guests, got a taste of his own medicine when Hercules wrestled him into his own stables. The ensuing feast calmed the beasts enough for Hercules to bind their mouths.

The ninth labor involved someone more dangerous than any beast, Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. Hercules was to retrieve the belt given to her by her father Ares, the god of war. He sailed to the Amazon land of Themyscira prepared for battle, but the queen was so impressed with the hero and his exploits that she gave the belt willingly.

For his tenth labor, Hercules had to steal a herd of magical red cattle from Geryon, a giant with three heads and three bodies. On his way, Hercules was so annoyed by the Libyan desert heat that he shot an arrow at the Sun. The sun god Helios admired the hero's strength and lent his chariot for the journey to the island of Erytheia. There, Hercules fought off Geryon's herdsman and his two-headed dog, before killing the giant himself. That should have been the end, but Eurystheus announced that two labors had not counted: the Hydra, because Iolaus had helped Hercules kill it, and the stables, because he had accepted payment.

So, the hero set about his eleventh task, obtaining golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides nymphs. On the way there, he met, fought, and killed Antaeus. Hercules began by catching the Old Man of the Sea and holding the shapeshifting water-god until he revealed the garden's location. Once there, the hero found the titan Atlas holding up the heavens. Hercules offered to take his place if Atlas would retrieve the apples. Atlas eagerly complied, but Hercules then tricked him into trading places again, escaping with apples in hand.

The twelfth and final task was to bring back Cerberus, the three-headed hound guarding the underworld. Helped by Hermes and Athena, Hercules descended and met Hades himself. The lord of the dead allowed Hercules to take the beast if he could do it without weapons, which he achieved by grabbing all three of its heads at once. When he presented the hound to a horrified Eurystheus, the king finally declared the hero's service complete.

After 12 years of toil, Hercules had redeemed the tragic deaths of his family and earned a place in the divine pantheon, but his victory held an even deeper importance. In overcoming the chaotic and monstrous forces of the world, the hero swept away what remained of the Titans' primordial order, reshaping it into one where humanity could thrive. Through his labors, Hercules tamed the world's madness by atoning for his own.

### The Quest for the Golden Fleece

On Lemnos, Hercules chastised Jason's crew of Argonauts for not behaving like heroes when they found themselves embroiled in new romances.

On the Mount of Bears, Hercules single-handedly held off a group of ancient, six-armed monsters when they surged down from the mountains and hurled rocks at the crew's docked ship, before his comrades joined the fray.

Hercules was absent when his squire was abducted by a water nymph.

### Modern Day

Hercules attended his half-brother's bachelor party in early April 2020.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Demigod/Olympian-Human Hybrid Physiology:** Hercules is the demigod son of Zeus.
	+ **Superhuman Strength:** Hercules is a man of exceptional strength, which he claims to be incomparable. This potentially puts him on par with his father and his half-brother, Thunder Storm. During his first labor, he stunned the Nemean lion with a club and strangled it with his bare hands. During his fifth labor, he dug massive trenches in one day. During his seventh labor, he put the Cretan bull in a chokehold. During his eighth labor, he wrestled Diomedes into his own stables. During his tenth labor, he fought off Geryon's herdsman and his two-headed dog, before killing the giant himself. During his eleventh labor, he held up the heavens. During his twelfth labor, he grabbed all three of Cerberus' heads at once. During the quest for the golden fleece, He single-handedly held off a group of ancient, six-armed monsters before his comrades joined the fray. He was indeed the Argonauts' most powerful crewmate. He killed Antaeus by crushing him to death in a bear hug.
	+ **Superhuman Durability:**
	+ **Superhuman Speed:** Hercules can run 303.91 mph/493.92 kph.
	+ **Superhuman Agility:**
	+ **Longevity:**

### Abilities

* **Master Combatant:** Hercules is naturally proficient in Boxing and Wrestling due to his superhuman strength, making him a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. He learned wrestling from Autolycus and killed Eryx in a match. His most impressive feats of combat include defeating Thanatos, the god of death, and wounding Ares, the god of war. He also killed two of Ares' children, Hippolyte and Cycnus. He defeated Achelous for the hand of Deianeira, and killed Antaeus after discovering he was empowered by the Earth by crushing him to death with a bear hug. For one of his Twelve Labors, he killed the Nemean lion with his bare hands. He can wield a club as a weapon and he can improvise weapons, as he killed his music teacher with a lyre.
* **Bow Mastery:** Hercules shot down the Stymphalian birds, and he shot an arrow at the sun. While firing arrows at centaurs, he accidentally killed Chiron, one of his mentors, with an arrow poisoned with the blood of the hydra. He later killed Nessus with an arrow. He also killed the eagle that ate Prometheus' liver with an arrow.

## Equipment

### Weaponry

* **Club:** Hercules wielded a cub.
* **Bow:** Hercules used the bow of Philoctetes.
* **Poison Arrows:** Hercules used arrows coated in poisonous blood from the hydra.

## Relationships

* Alcemene - Mother
* Amphitryon - Foster Father
* Thunder Storm/White Lotus - Half-Brother
* Eurystheus - Cousin
* Iolaus - Nephew
* Megara † - Wife and Involuntary Victim
* Deianeira - Wife
* Hyllus - Daughter (Melite)
* Aristodemos - Descendant

Allies* Chiron † - Mentor and Accidental Victim
* Iole
* Alastor † - Victim
* Alcyoneus † - Victim
* Amyntor † - Victim
* Antaeus † - Victim
* Augeias † - Victim
* Busiris † - Victim
* Cacus † - Victim
* Cycnus † - Victim
* Emathion † - Victim
* Eryx † - Victim
* Hippocoon † - Victim
* Lepreus † - Victim
* Leucaspis † - Victim
* Linus † - Victim
* Lityerses † - Victim
* Periclymeus † - Victim
* Porphyrion † - Victim
* Syleus † - Victim
* Termerus † - Victim