We fast
forward a bit past Herc’s childhood. Sure, there was the thing with the snakes
Hera sent against him, his feeding incident which created the Milky Way, and he
grew up learning from the best and the brightest, but we want to see a serious
struggle, right? Right. So we come to the most devastating act of revenge that
Hera ever implemented.
She drove
Hercules mad.
The
insanity made him kill his children and his wife, Megara. Yes, his main squeeze
from the Disney movie was actually his first wife, and he killed her. So much
for a Disney ending. His wife and children dead by his own hand.
It’s not
often that Hera gets the upper hand in things, but this particular revenge is
devastatingly effective. Hercules is crushed, demoralized, and it’s not like
Zeus can do anything to fix this. Hera must be pretty proud of this one. Not
only has she struck back against Hercules (for the breastfeeding thing), she’s
also gotten back at Zeus. Whatever purpose Zeus had in having Hercules, he’s a
thoroughly changed man because of this tragedy. He’s not a bold and brash Greek
hero like Perseus, Theseus, Achilles, or even Odysseus. He’s broken. All he
wants is to make up for what he did, to gain absolution for murdering his wife
and children.
This makes
Hercules unique among Greek heroes. He doesn’t go out questing and destroying
his enemies. Instead, he must serve King Eurystheus—who was made king instead
of Hercules. These are labors, menial tasks that are beneath the son of Zeus,
and he must complete ten of them to Eurystheus satisfaction. He is a
super-powered servant, whose service might—if Eurystheus allows—make up for his
great crime.
So it is
that the potentially greatest hero, the one who made Zeus go cold turkey, is
not out making a name for himself by defeating monsters on their own islands,
nor is he facing against Trojan champions. He is cleaning stables, and
embarking on fools’ errands that Eurystheus thinks Herc will fail.