Thread:Mesektet/@comment-27729149-20150707052956/@comment-3581997-20150721225122

1. He was under a spell/drunk, depending on the telling, in other-words he was not in his right mind at the time. The story doesn't give him a pass on this though as whether in his right mind or not, he still murdered them and feels horrible about it. In fact prior to the famous 12 labors part Heracles gives up his mansion feeling he is not fit to live in human society and spends 10 years as a mountain nomad to punish himself before he even begins to look for redemption.

2. He is given 12 labors severing the goddess who put that fit of madness on him in the first place, in other-words he is basically a pawn being set up to be repeatably sacrificed for the sake of satisfying a chess-master's wounded ego.

3. His family's spirits actually forgive him and don't want him to spend the rest of his life suffering on their behalf.

Or, all that put into a piffy easy to use rule: The work it-self is actually demonstrates his redemption, it isn't a fan call, or an interpreted theory. It is the author going up to the audience and telling them that Redemption is the central theme of the entire story and the end goal.