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Hydra | |
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The Lernaean Hydra was a monster with a dog's body and nine serpent heads, each of which spewed forth a vile poison. Should one of its heads be severed, two more would grow in its place. The number of heads reported is varying, from five to seven and even fifty to one thousand, but nine seems to be the accepted convention.  The Hydra was one of the many monstrous offspring of Echidna and Typhon. The slaying of the Hydra was the second of Hercules' Twelve Labors. The monster had been a great threat to the city of Lerna and the surrounding areas. Its den was in a swamp whose air was full of foul, venomous fumes. To draw the Hydra from its cave, flaming arrows were shot into its den. Hercules' nephew and charioteer, Ioalus, thought of the way to prevent the heads from regrowing. Bringing a torch, he seared the stumps of the freshly cut heads before they were able to regenerate. When only the Hydra's one immortal head was left, Hercules simply crushed it with a large rock from which it was unable to escape. He then soaked the tips of his arrows in the Hydra's blood, for it too was quite poisonous. Although they Hydra was defeated, Hercules was not credited with this as being one of his Labors because of Ioalus' aid. However, the world was rid of a monster the likes of which even Echidna and Typhon could never again produce. During his fight with the Hydra, Cancer the giant crab was sent by Hera in hopes that in pinching him, he would lose his breath and inhale the toxic swamp air. Hercules instead defeated it quite easily, and Hera thusly turned it into a constellation. The name Hydra comes from the Greek word for water.
What much can be said about the Hydra? Unlike other Battling Dragons creatures, this one has quite a fair amount of description to it. The amount of heads was easy to settle on; the conventional nine was given to its adult form, and the lowest mentioned number of heads, five, was given to its youngest stage. I did not take the "body of a dog" too literally for the Hydra. I made a bestial-like quadraped, but I was sure to stay clear of mammilian features; it stayed a truly serpentine monster. The regeneration spells were some of the trickiest things I have ever had to think up of in all of BD. How do you show something that cannot be shown in a single frame? A stub of a head would not work, nor would the final product ("Hey, I'm a head! I just grew back, and you should know that.... somehow."). The Hydra Hatchling's spell Venom Mist was originally slotted for the Basilisk's Egg. However, it was given Thorn instead. Oddly enough, the reason for not having the attack originally was because of the difficulty involved in drawing mist. My skills have not improved, yet here it is. The Hydra was the tenth creature added to Battling Dragons (just one too late for an interesting coincidence) and my sixth creature. It was also the first adoptable creature added based entirely on voting polls. The Hydra would not have been my choice as a new creature if things had been left up to me; I like the Hydra, sure. It has to be my favorite of the Greek monsters, but it is just far too commonly known. BD usually leans toward the underdogs of mythology, but I guess that is what I get for leaving it to a vote. |
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