Hades and Athena

Hades is portrayed here as being a comedic character with a beef against Zeus.  He is occasionally noncorporeal, can appear, disappear, make other things appear and disappear at will, has control of fire, flames in place of hair, and a pair of minions named Pain and Panic.  He is God of the Underworld, an unwanted position thrust upon him by Zeus.  Because of this discontentment, he plotted to release the Titans and overtake Olympus.

In actuality, Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon drew straws to determine who would rule the sky, sea, and underworld.  Their positions could easily have been reversed.

I cannot see why Disney chose to paint Hades as the villain instead of Hera.  Perhaps they sought to make comparisons to the Judeo-Christian Satan?  Perhaps they thought following the events as the Greeks believed them would be too complicated for a children’s movie.  Perhaps they grew tired of the “evil stepmother” trope, or felt that such a thing was only suited for female leads.  Perhaps they did not want children to know that Zeus was an unfaithful philanderer.  No matter what their reasoning, their actions still water down a rich mythological tradition.  In the land of Disney, Hercules’ biggest trouble is that the neighborhood kids don’t want to play with him, and the solution to that trouble is to kill a lot of monsters so he can leave the people who loved and raised him to live with parents he never knew.  Where is the despair that drove him so close to suicide after he mistakenly killed his family?  Where are the delicate politics playing between the gods and goddesses as they seek to aid or hinder his endeavors?  The Heracles of legend did not become a hero so he could live on Mount Olympus.  He could live on Mount Olympus because he was a hero.

Athena with her owl

Athena appeared only a few times in the Disney movie, mingling with the other deities on Mount Olympus.  In the myths, though, she was an active part of Heracles’ life.  When Hera caused Heracles to kill his family, Athena stopped his murder spree (Pausanias 9.11.2).