Lernaean Hydra

The Multi-Headed Monster

## Names and Epithets

### Aliases

Hydra of Lerna, Hydra, Hydra Lernaia, Hydra Lernaea, Lerna Water-Serpent, Kaross, Lernie (by Zagreus)

### Titles

Six-Headed Dragon, Child of Typhon, Pet of Hera, Bone Hydra (Formerly)

## Profile

### Affiliations

Lerna, Hydrae, the Danaids, Twelve Labours of Heracles

## Relationships

### Siblings

Orthrus, Cerberus, Chimera, Ladon, Sphinx, Nemean Lion, Gorgon

### Other Relationships

Hera (Master/Care-taker), Heracles (Enemy), Karkinos (Ally)

## Other

### Status

Alive (Formerly Deceased)

The **Lernaean Hydra**, or simply the **Hydra** for short, is a gigantic dragon monster with numerous heads, with the center one being immortal. It is one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna.

## Overview

The Lernaean Hydra is a gigantic, ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic nine-headed water dragon. The monster's haunt was the marshes of Lerna near Argos which was the site of the Danaids. Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld, and archaeology has established it as a sacred site older than Mycenaean Argos.

The destruction of the Lernaean Hydra was one of the 12 Labors of Heracles (or Hercules), which he accomplished with the assistance of Iolaus. It had many heads and every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out of the stump.

It's most distinctive characteristic was the multiple heads. Each time a head was cut off, two new heads regenerated in its place immediately (though there are some variations in this number depending on the writer). The middle and dominant Hydra head (the front and biggest) was immortal and breathed fire. This giant serpent’s other heads possessed poisonous breath in addition to poisonous and acidic blood. Even its scent was deadly.

There were also another hydra, called Hydrae, that had many differences from the Lernaean Hydra.

## Appearance

The Lernaean Hydra possessed many heads, the exact number of which varies according to the source. It is usually depicted as being from anywhere between 7 and 25 meters long and being around 6 to 13 meters tall. This is not correct or incorrect as the hydra is usually fought at different stages of its life depending on the version of the legend.

Common depictions of the hydra give the creature a thick, strong body, a serpentine tail and webbed feet. The Lernaean Hydra is usually depicted as having either two arms and no legs, two arms and two legs or no arms or legs at all when the hydra actually starts off with having no legs then it develops two arms then two legs. So all of these depictions are partially correct.

Later on, the Lernaean Hydra was described to be a huge and scaly lizard-like monster with nine heads, each one diamond-shaped with a mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth.

## Personality

Similar to the Beast, she does not have a "human" personality, instead having a more animalistic personality, driven by instinct. This can be reinforced by the fact that she is a child of Typhon, the personification of natural disasters, literally a force of nature driven by a desire for destruction. However, like her father, it is likely that she still has some rationality, probably being much more intelligent than other land creatures.

## Powers and Abilities

It had poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its scent was deadly. There is also a regeneration feature to the monster: for every head chopped off, the Lernaean Hydra would regrow two heads.

The middle and dominant hydra head (the front and biggest) was immortal and breathed fire. This giant serpent’s other heads possessed poisonous breath in addition to poisonous and acidic blood. The monster as a whole possesses incredible superhuman strength.

* **Immortality**: The largest of the Lernaean Hydra's head is immortal, and cannot be damaged by conventional weapons. The only way Heracles was able to kill this head was to cut it off with a golden sword, gifted to him by Athena.
* **Regeneration**: With all other heads, the Lernaean Hydra would grow two for every one that was cut off. This gave it a theoretically infinite amount of heads. However, this regeneration could be cancelled out if someone were to cauterize the wound.
* **Poisoned Blood**: The acidic blood of the Lernaean Hydra was known to be a powerful poison. Hercules would later use this poisonous blood to defeat other creatures which included the Stymphalian Birds, the giant Geryon, and the centaur Nessus which ruined the river Anigrus.
* **Poisonous Breath**: Some variations of the myth give the Lernaean Hydra the ability to breath a cloud of poisonous gases.

## History

### Origins

The Lernaean Hydra was one of the monster born from the unity of Typhon and Echidna before the former went out to defeat and usurp Zeus. It, along with the rest of its siblings, were allowed to leave their nest by Echidna.

While a young Lernaean Hydra wandered around, it was found by the goddess Hera who decided to raise it herself for unknown reasons.

The Lernaean Hydra guarded an entrance to the Greek Underworld at a swamp near Lake Lerna. Most of the time, it stayed in the spring of Amymone, a deep cave, only coming out to terrorize neighboring villages and and killing flocks of sheep and cattle. The monster terrorized the Kingdom of Lerna, chasing all of the inhabitants away with the toxic acid and fumes that it spewed at them.

### Labors

Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, sent the demigod Heracles to slay the Lernaean Hydra, known as a fearsome creature who had the peculiar ability to regrow two heads for every one that was severed, as the second of the set of labors that the hero had to complete, in order to redeem himself for killing his wife Megara and his children in a fit of madness. When Heracles reached the lake Lerna, he had to cover his nose and mouth with a cloth, in order to protect himself from poisonous gases that were emitted.

After he managed to lure the monster out of its lair, Heracles quickly cut one of its heads off, only to realize in despair that two new heads had grown. As one head was cut off, two grew in its place. So, he decided to ask for the help of his nephew Iolaus, who thought of using fire to cauterize the neck stump as soon as the head is cut off to prevent them from regenerating. So, they made a plan; Heracles would cut off the heads and Iolaus would burn the wound with a firebrand. Therefore, Iolaus finally burned out the roots with firebrands as soon as Heracles cut off each head.

As a result, they both quickly started winning the battle. Hera, who had raised the monster specifically to kill Heracles, sent a giant crab, Karkinos, in aid of the hydra. The hero, though, crushed it under his giant foot. The final head of the Lernaean Hydra was immortal, and yet Heracles managed to cut it by using a golden sword that the goddess Athena had offered him, ensuring it would never regenerate. At last Heracles severed the one immortal head from the body and buried it beneath a massive rock.

Additionally, Heracles used arrows dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood or gall, which inflicted fatal wounds on his enemies. This would later be the hero's demise, as the Shirt of Nessus which Heracles unknowingly wore was covered in the tainted blood, causing him unbearable pain.

Thus his second task was complete. However, as Heracles' nephew Iolaus assisted in this trial by handing him the firebrand, Eurystheus also decided that the trial didn't count as one of the 10 trials required as it had not been completed alone. The mythic element is an equivocating attempt to resolve the submerged conflict between an ancient ten Labours and a more recent twelve.

Hera, upset that Heracles had slain the beast who she raised, turned both of her dead monsters into constellations; the Lernaean Hydra became the constellation of the same name, while Karkinos was turned into the constellation Cancer.

### After Death

After being slain by the demigod, the Lernaean Hydra (then known as the Bone Hydra), stripped of its flesh and hide, dwelled in the fiery river, Phlegethon, that flows through the Asphodel Meadows, and guards the passage to Elysium.

It was summoned by Underworld Lord Hades to stop Zagreus from reaching pass the final chamber of the Asphodel Meadows which it failed every single time. Its chamber is shaped like a semi-hexagon island surrounded by magma, with pots containing healing in the top 2 corners of the island. It also features 4 indestructible pillars which are placed in the more center area of the island. The Hydra rests at the top edge of the island, only extending down to the center of the island when Lunging.

### Revival

A century after its death, the Lernaean Hydra was finally revived by Hera to be used as her personal monster and "pet".

## Myths and Legends

There are often 2 kinds of hydras in Greek Mythology. The serpentine, aquatic hydra with fins on its head and usually no legs was the Lernaean Hydra which Heracles fought. The other is the terrestrial hydra which is the one with 4 legs and horns and spikes which is usually in other tales. Both of these hydra's could have any number of heads and does not have a set amount.

Greek and Roman writers related that Hera placed the Hydra and crab as constellations in the night sky after Heracles slew him. When the sun is in the sign of Cancer (Latin for "The Crab"), the constellation Hydra has its head nearby. In fact, both constellations derived from the earlier Babylonian signs: Bashmu ("The Venomous Snake") and Alluttu ("The Crayfish").

### Development of the Myth

The oldest extant Hydra narrative appears in Hesiod's "Theogony", while the oldest images of the monster are found on a pair of bronze fibulae dating to c. 700 BC. In both these sources, the main motifs of the Hydra myth are already present: a multi-headed serpent that is slain by Heracles and Iolaus. While these fibulae portray a six-headed Hydra, its number of heads was first fixed in writing by Alcaeus (c. 600 BC), who gave it nine heads. Simonides, writing a century later, increased the number to fifty, while Euripides, Virgil, and others did not give an exact figure. Heraclitus the paradoxographer rationalized the myth by suggesting that the Hydra would have been a single-headed snake accompanied by its offspring.

Like the initial number of heads, the monster's capacity to regenerate lost heads varies with time and author. The first mention of this ability of the Hydra occurs with Euripides, where the monster grew back a pair of heads for each one severed by Heracles. In the Euthydemus of Plato, Socrates likens Euthydemus and his brother Dionysidorus to a Hydra of a sophistical nature who grows two arguments for every one refuted. Palaephatus, Ovid, and Diodorus Siculus concur with Euripides, while Servius has the Hydra grow back three heads each time; the Suda does not give a number. Depictions of the monster dating to c. 500 BC show it with a double tail as well as multiple heads, suggesting the same regenerative ability at work, but no literary accounts have this feature.

The Hydra had many parallels in ancient Near Eastern religions. In particular, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology celebrated the deeds of the war and hunting god Ninurta, whom the Angim credited with slaying 11 monsters on an expedition to the mountains, including a seven-headed serpent (possibly identical with the Mushmahhu) and Bashmu, whose constellation (despite having a single Head) was later associated by the Greeks with the Hydra. The constellation is also sometimes associated in Babylonian contexts with Marduk's dragon, the Mushhushshu.

## Quotes

* *"Another of the fierce offspring of Echidna and Typhon, the Hydra was a large serpent with multiple heads and poisonous breath. Killing the Hydra near the city of Lerna in Argolis was the second of Heracles’ twelve tasks. Each time he cut off one of the Hydra’s heads, however, two more grew back. A nephew helped him by cauterizing each wound as a head was lopped off. The last head was immortal, so Heracles buried it under a large rock. Once the beast’s body was dead, Heracles dipped his arrowheads into its blood, giving them extra potency."* - Lernaean Hydra's Bio.

* *"Will you forget the head slicing thing?!"* - Chiron yelling at Heracles to stop beheading the Lernaean Hydra.

* *"Did that hydra have a family!?"* - Zagreus.

* *"No husband. If you can put that stupid lion that the bastard killed to honor his first labor then there's no reason I cannot put my dear hydra up there as well. It will no doubt place even greater glory upon his head. And you seem to love him more than you love your wife and trueborn children after all, aren't you Zeus?"* - Hera to Zeus.

* *"A giant multi-headed dragon... Hmmmm... the hydra looks like me in my true form. I think it would be a good idea to have her as an ally, what do you think? Do you think our creator will be mad that we're teaming up with a descendant of Khaos?"* - The Beast to the second Beast.

* *"...Stripped of the flesh the hero Herakles sliced through and cauterized, the Hydra now resides within the Underworld, stewing in the scintillating tumult of the fire-river called the Phlegethon. It mercilessly watches over passage toward Elysium, devouring those shades who would dare seek the comforts of that hallowed place."* - Piece of the Lernaean Hydra's codex.

* *"For his second labour Herakles was instructed to slay the Lernaian (Lernaean) Hydra. The beast was nurtured in the marshes of Lerna, from where she would go out onto the flatland to raid flocks and ruin the land. The Hydra was of enormous size, with eight mortal heads, and a ninth one in the middle that was immortal. With Iolaos (Iolaus) driving, Herakles rode a chariot to Lerna, and there, stopping the horses, he found the Hydra on a ridge beside the springs of Amymone where she nested. By throwing flaming spears at her he forced her to emerge, and as she did he was able to catch hold. But she hung on to him by wrapping herself round one of his feet, and he was unable to help matters by striking her with his club, for as soon as one head was pounded off two others would grow in its place. Then a giant crab came along to help the Hydra, and bit Herakles on the foot. For this he killed the crab, and called on his own behalf to Iolaos for help. Iolaos made some torches by setting fire to a portion of the adjoining woods, and, by using these to burn the buddings of the heads, he kept them from growing. When he had overcome this problem, Herakles lopped off the immortal head, which he buried and covered with a heavy boulder at the side of the road that runs through Lerna to Elaios (Elaeus). He cut up the Hydra's body and dipped his arrows in its venom." - Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus.*

## Gallery

*The Lernaean Hydra coming out the sea**The Lernaean Hydra during its residence in Hades**The Lernaean Hydra right after being revived**Heracles battles the Lernaean Hydra**A 19th-century depiction of the Lernaean Hydra**A painting about Heracles fighting the Lernaean Hydra**A painting of the Lernaean Hydra**A Card of the Lernaean Hydra**A medieval artwork of the Lernaean Hydra**Heracles, Iolaus and the Lernaean Hydra, Athenian red-figure stamnos*
## Trivia

* The Lernaean Hydra does not already have a set number of heads because the hydra had way too many heads for the vase painters to paint so they always gave it between 3 and 20 heads. Under normal circumstances the monster never has less than 3 heads.
* One version states that the Hydra was the offspring of the Titan Pallas and Styx.
* As of current time, Zagreus decided to nickname the Lernaean Hydra "Lernie".
* If someone is fighting against it, they should take special care and attention to the shape of the wave and the direction the hydra faces.
* The Lernaean Hydra was usually fought at different stages of its life depending on the version of the legend.
* Hydra is the name of a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto.
* Hydra, a species of simple fresh-water animal, is named after the monster.

## Image Sources

* (Venture the fog hydra by darkcloud013 dbpdkjn-fullview.jpg) Venture the Fog: Hydra by Darkcloud013
* (The Lernaean Hydra.jpg) The Lernaean Hydra by ???
* (Hydra by butterflydragon99 d5zwi2l-fullview.jpg) Hydra by ButterflyDragon99
* (Lernaean hydra by edlouiearts d2njff4-fullview.jpg) Lernaean Hydra by EdlouieArts
* (Lernaean hydra by jiayi dei9wf3-fullview.jpg) Lernaean Hydra by Jiayi
* (Hydra 2.jpg) Hydra 2 by el-grimlock
* (HydrabyArnaTornwolf.jpg) Hydra by ArnaTornwolf
* (Percy Jackson Hydra.jpg) Hercules battles the Hydra of Lerna by John Rocco
* (Gustave Moreau 003.jpg) Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra by Gustave Moreau
* (Singer Sargent, John - Hercules - 1921.jpg) Hercules and the Hydra by John Singer Sargent
* (Antonio del Pollaiolo - Ercole e l'Idra e Ercole e Anteo.jpg) Hercules and the Hydra by Antonio del Pollaiuolo
* (Henry IV en Herculeus terrassant l Hydre de Lerne cad La ligue Catholique Atelier Toussaint Dubreuil circa 1600.jpg) Portrait of Henry IV as Hercules slaying the Lernaean Hydra by Toussaint Dubreuil
* (Lernaean Hydra.jpg) Hercules and the Hydra by Franz von Stuck
* (Hydra Sketch Card - Nestor Celario Jr..jpg) Hydra Sketch Card - Nestor Celario Jr. by Pernastudios
* (Hydra - Anthony Tan.jpg) Hydra - Anthony Tan by Pernastudios
* (Hydra 04.jpg) Hydra from Historia Animalium
* (Hydra (Disney).jpg) Hydra from Disney's Hercules
* (M13.4Hydra.jpg) Heracles, Iolaus and the Hydra, Athenian red-figure stamnos by ???