Favourite mythological heroes?

Who are everyone's favourite mythological heroes? For me, it's definitely Sigurd Fafnirsbane and Brynhild Budlisdottir of the Volsunga Saga, better known as Siegfried and Brünnhilde.

Camilla always seemed a bit interesting.

@Matues: Who's that?

Roman Heroine.

Could run with such speed that she could cross oceans without getting her feet wet.

This did not prevent her from being stabbed when distracted.

I don't know if you would consider her a hero, but I've always had a soft spot for Lilith.

That. Is. Awesome.

edited 14th Apr '13 6:31:38 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Hercules. Cliched answer? Maybe, but I just love how a guy that dumb could find some pretty ingenious solutions to problems? There's a lion that can't be killed by any weapon? Strangle it to death. Giant dragon grows heads back? Burn the stumps. Have to clean a really dirty stable? Divert a river. Your friend's wife died? Get rip-roaring drunk, then wrestle the Grim Reaper until he gives her back.

There's nothing more motivating that fighting with a bad hangover. ;)

Joking aside, I would say yes, Hercules is a good choice.

I like Herc too; he's one of the few heroes of antiquity that doesn't seem like all that much of a douche today due to Values Dissonance.

What about Sigurd? But wait, he doesn't count as "antiquity", does he?

edited 14th Apr '13 9:39:36 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Hercules/Heracles loses coolness points for being killed by a fucking blanket, IMO. (To be fair, it was a blanket soaked in toxic centaur blood.)

The slayer of the Chimera, Bellerophon, is cooler, IMO. From what I remember, the daughter or wife of some king took a liking to him, but he turned her down. She went pouting to her husband, saying that Bellerophon had violated her, so he sent Bellerophon with a message that Bellerophon couldn't read to another king—the message said "This man has violated my wife, have him killed" or something to that effect. Neither of the kings wanted to kill a guest of their court, so they dealt with it indirectly. The second king had a Chimera problem, so he sent Bellerophon to deal with it, knowing that Bellerophon probably wouldn't survive. Except he did. Like a boss.

Theseus was also a pretty cool guy. Kind of like the Chuck Norris of Ancient Greece. He showed up in Crete for the express purpose of slaying the Minotaur and probably stood on its corpse flexing his biceps after he slayed it.

Except that Bellerophon got too cocky and decided to ascend to Olympus, whereupon Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the Pegasus, throwing Bellerophon off and crippling / blinding him.

So the guy who decided to fly to the Mount got a fly to the mount. *rimshot*

Also, his name sounds like a futuristic radio from the fifties.

YEAH WELL

At least he got taken out trying to climb the mountain of the freaking gods.

Hercules. Blanket.

Neoptolemos. No competition.

I don't know - it might just be the lack of sleep talking, but it sounds too much like...

Meh. Kid was an asshole. Okay, so he doesn't discriminate against women and the elderly, which is well and good UNLESS YOU'RE KILLING THEM ALL.

edited 15th Apr '13 7:11:37 AM by Pyrite

Dunno if he counts as "mythological", but Numa Pompilius was awesome.

Any king who intentionally misunderstands Zeus, repeatedly, in order to avoid having to sacrifice one of his subjects to him is alright in my books.

edited 15th Apr '13 7:19:14 AM by Carciofus

I chose him because he was a colossal asshole!

Zeus had his moments. The story of Leda and the Swan, for example. The story goes that Zeus was one day flapping around Greece in swan form when an eagle/some other huge bird of prey swooped down with the intent to attack and eat him. He flew away and found Leda, whom he deemed fuckable. But instead of changing into something more appealing, like a Chippendales dancer, he banged her IN SWAN FORM. That's badass. I don't know who their kids were or if they had any, but knowing how divine genetics/lineage worked in Ancient Greek tales, they were probably dog monsters with butts for faces or something.

edited 15th Apr '13 7:28:48 AM by Alma

*checks* Sounds pretty progressive for his day.

...Forgot who I was talking to for a moment there. Of course you'd go for the colossal assholes.

Actually, I think they turned out to be Castor, Pollux and Helen of Troy. So you're a little off.

EDIT: Oh, and Clytemnestra. Forgot.

edited 15th Apr '13 7:33:40 AM by Pyrite

There's a Biblical heroine who I thought was pretty cool; I think her name might've been Judith. As I recall, she let herself be raped by the enemy commander, then chopped off his junk with a knife. Fool bled to death.

It was more like "she claimed to want to betray her people, seduced him, and then beheaded him while he was sleeping", if I remember correctly. And it only worked because that general had not read the Evil Overlord List.

edited 15th Apr '13 9:13:29 AM by Carciofus

I kinda like Hercules and Achilles...Although I also have a soft spot for Samson (That biblical guy whose long hair gave him super strength - and when he's betrayed, blinded and shaved, he gets in a rage and tear the whole temple/castle down - taking his captors with him.)

The lesser-known Arachne was pretty badass too - claiming she was a better weaver than freakin' Athena, accepted a showdown with the goddess (judged by other Gods) and WON. (She got turned into a spider for her troubles, but still, girl had more brass than many men.)

Lots of women met their undoings by challenging the Olympian goddesses. Arachne, Medusa, Niobe, Cassiopeia...

Väinämöinen.

You've probably never heard of him.
/hipsterglasses

edited 15th Apr '13 9:50:22 AM by Kerrah