Medusa (Disney's Hercules)

“	Oops... Sorry.	„
	~ Medusa, after turning an attacking Leopard to stone, also her first lines

“	Hey, what good is a true friend if he's a rock?	„
	~ Medusa

Medusa is a supporting character in the Disney TV Show Hercules.

She is voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt; who also played Liz Wilson, Julie James and Madellaine.

Personality[]

Unable to control her power to turn people to stone, Medusa is very reclusive and afraid of showing her true appearance to others, preferring to live alone, so as not to accidentally hurt others. The only companions she has of her are her living snake hair and the many statues that decorate her grove that she usually pretends to talk to alleviate her loneliness. She is also self-conscious, shown when Aphrodite and Hades offered her to get close to Hercules, and also naïve as she accepted Hades' deception about making her human versus Aphrodite's not making her "ugly".

However, she quickly feels guilty and reveals her true appearance to Hercules. Heartbroken when she is rejected, she returns to her grove of hers and feels guilt-ridden when she accidentally turns Hercules to stone (thanks to Hades) while he had come to apologize. And when Hades offers to make her permanently human, Medusa refuses having learned her lesson: true friends accept you for who you are, not for who you pretend to be.

Appearance[]

Gorgon Form: Medusa's true Gorgon form to many superstitious Humans is considered to be a terrifying and beastly monster to most mortals that have heard of her. She has a mostly feminine humanoid appearance, with green scaly skin, long finger-like claws on her hands, two sharp fangs, yellow reptilian eyes, and dark green snake-like hair. She wears a red Greek style toga dress.
Human Form:

Powers and Abilities[]

Petrifying Gaze: As a Gorgon herself, Medusa can induce rapid petrification, transforming any mortal being, human or beast, into stone simply by looking at them.
Strength: Despite her frail appearance, Medusa is much stronger than she looks.

History[]

Medusa appears for the first time in "Hercules and the Gorgon", after Hercules falls from a waterfall, after saving Icarus, he finds himself near Gorgon Land, where he is saved by Medusa, who, fascinated by the unconscious boy. However a hungry Leopard sneaks up and pounces attempting to attack her, only to be turned to stone by a startled Medusa, who apologies after the stoned Leopard breaks into piece's upon impacting with the ground. When Pegasus and Icarus who were looking for Hercules, arrive, Medusa quickly hides. Later Medusa is seen in he grotto, chatting with the statues (Of people that she had accidentally turned to stone, long ago). She quickly finds Hercules' school card. This makes her want to have a "normal" life even more, so she asks the Olympians for help, to which Hades and Aphrodite respond.

Hades offers her the opportunity to become a human by day in exchange for working for him at night as a monster while Aphrodite offers Medusa special sunglasses that would block her powers, allowing her to interact with the world while still being herself . In the end, Medusa chooses Hades' proposal, believing that none of her can see her as she truly is. To fool Medusa, Hades says that he will permanently transform her into a human if someone accepts her for who she really is.

Everything goes well until sunset, where Medusa returns to her true appearance and creates a wave of panic in Athens. For this reason, Medusa feels a strong sense of guilt and tries to explain to Hercules, but he immediately accuses her of wanting to turn him into stone, thus making her cry and run away upon being rejected.

Hercules tells Icarus what happened, and makes the mistake of referring to Medusa as a monster. An angry Icarus asks Hercules if he intends to cut off Medusa's head and use it to defeat all the monsters, especially the "monster" who flew too close to the sun, keeping it in a bag. With this, Hercules realizes his mistakes and goes to see Medusa with flowers to apologize to her. But then, Hades discovers that Hercules is the boy with whom Medusa was in love with her, and so he lies to her by telling her that he came to kill her, thus causing Hercules to look straight into Medusa's eyes and thus turning to stone. Medusa is heartbroken and realizes that he had come to make amends, upon noticing the flowers he brought for her. This is when the goddess of love Aphrodite appears, reminding Hades of the best part of Medusa's deal. Hades prepares to turn Medusa permanently human, but Aphrodite uses a mirror to turn her magic on Hercules who turns human again, much to Hades' shock and anger.

Medusa, who has now learned her lesson, agrees to date Hercules and asks Aphrodite for her glasses, and she proudly gives them to her, allowing Medusa to safely interact with Hercules.

Medusa makes a cameo in "Hercules and the Phil Factor" as a portrait in Stheno's home.

Memorable Quotes[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Medusa is based on the mythological gorgon Medusa, however she shares very little similarities to her other than being a mortal gorgon. Another trait is that unlike the original myths it is implied in her debut episode that the gorgons are a mortal race of both males and females rather than being a group of two immortal sisters and one mortal sister. This may imply that the character is just a regular gorgon who was simply named after the original.
Another key difference to note is that between her and her mythical counterpart, is that she seems to have no ill feelings towards the gods, even praying to them for help. Which is odd since it was Medusa being used by Poseidon and Athena's wrath that lead to her to being cursed in the first place.
This version of Medusa is the very first incarnation of her to be portrayed in a more heroic role instead of a villainous one (Like all her previous and present Evil counterparts).
It's presumed that both Hercules and Medusa parted on friendly terms.

Navigation[]

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Hercules | Megara | Philoctetes | Pegasus

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Icarus | Cassandra | Medusa | Helen Of Troy

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