Favourite mythological heroes?

No, Ilmarinen is where it's at.

That just shows their stupidity, really. Challenging a God doesn't sound like a good idea, unless you're some sort of uber badass like Heracles.

Or like Jacob, in which case you get to chokeslam the monotheistic God.

EDIT:

But on the topic of "heroes challenging deities", it does not get better than Enkidu.

I mean, come on — he slapped the goddess of love with the severed penis (or rump, depending on the interpretation) of the Bull of Heaven that she had sent to destroy the city.

Yeah, he got ill and died because of his impiety; but still, that was badass. Especially if you consider that Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, was a powerful god in his own right.

edited 15th Apr '13 10:14:20 AM by Carciofus

Enkidu is pretty boss, no question.

My childhood heroes were the sneaky ones. Perseus and Loki all the way.

@The two Finns on this thread: No, I disagree with you guys. If we're talking Finnish mythological heroes, Kullervo is the best. All that tragedy! Plus, there's the whole Turin Turambar thing. Turin is awesome. And the original is pretty much a tough Cinderlad figure (Gender Flip of Cinderella). How many Cinderellas do you know who send bears to kill the Wicked Stepmother? Or even kill the Wicked Stepmother, period? There's that version from Italy where the heroine slams a trunk lid on her stepmother's neck, but on the whole it's not common.

Interestingly, I'm doing a retelling of that story (in rough draft) where the people of Kalevala are White, but the people of Pohjola are Native American (Alaskan, in fact). Which means that Kullervo is of mixed ancestry. Do either of you want to read it? It would be interesting to see/read what some Finnish people think of my interpretation.

And in Irish mythology, there's Cu Chulainn (forgotten how to do the accented u) or Setanta, who acted as a guard dog.

edited 15th Apr '13 6:41:20 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Prometheus dude brought us puny sad humans fire and defied THE KING OF GODS just so we wouldn't suffer in the cold.

Hmm...Is there some online repository of mythology? I'm not familiar with some of these stories.

Encyclopedia Mythica might be a good start. It doesn't have everything, but it's pretty comprehensive.

edited 15th Apr '13 5:58:51 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

I've always been a fan of Perseus. Orpheus was pretty boss, too, what with that whole "lulling Cerberus to sleep with nothing but The Power of Rock" thing.

Does Horus count? I mean, he did some pretty heroic things. Also did some pretty sneaky things. I like that he was not only a Guile Hero, he could also handle himself in a one-on-one fight.

Oh, and again from Egyptian myth...well, this one may seem kinda weird, but...Set. He was really kind of an Anti-Hero at times (specifically the times when he was protecting Ra's boat from Apophis). Also, he looks cooler than the other Egyptian gods.

I also rather like Thor and Loki (although I'm not sure he qualifies as a hero), especially when they work together. But they get all the attention; how about Tyr? That guy was awesome, but doesn't get talked about a lot. Basically the only Norse gods people seem to mention often are Odin, Thor, and Loki. Which is a shame, considering how much of a World of Badass Norse myth was.

Yeah, I mean, Sigurd.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu were a great team-up while it lasted, but when it comes to annoying the gods (as anyone who's heard me talk about the Trojan Cycle will know), I'm partial to Diomedes. Mortal shanks two gods and gets away with it, and even makes a cameo in The Aeneid and doesn't get killed off. (Sure, he had Athena's patronage, but that doesn't always save you from the wrath of the other gods.) Also: not a complete asshole.

Also Odysseus, but he should really have known how to read a map and kept his mouth shut.

(Also, I can never look at Horus and Set the same way again after reading about their fight. You know, that one. With the river and the lettuce and the what not.)

I cannot think of Set as a hero, not after he murdered his own brother and chopped up the pieces for pretty much no reason.

...I seem to be unfamiliar with Sigurd.

\*Looks up Sigurd*

Huh. Yeah, seems like a pretty cool guy. Also, dragon's blood lets you talk to birds, apparently. Good to know.

...Actually, now that I'm really imagining Sigurd just stabbing that dragon right in the underbelly with a super-awesome sword, then licking the dragon's blood off of the sword, I find him infinitely more awesome.

Also, best wingman ever: rides through magical hellfire (or should I say...HELfire?) to get the lady to marry his friend. Now that's dedication to your friends.

Well, I'm pretty sure he did it to become king. Yeah, not justifiable, but it's a reason. He was also the reason that everyone else didn't die, with the whole "allowing the sun to rise and not get eaten by the devil-snake" thing.

edited 15th Apr '13 6:43:33 PM by Zarek

@Zarek: When I imagine the scene where Regin tells Sigurd about the dragon I always hear "The Dwarven Song Of Old Wealth," aka "Far over the misty mountains cold/to dungeons deep and caverns old" from The Hobbit in my head. Actually, a movie of The Saga Of The Volsungs would be interesting to see, especially if Richard Armitage played Regin (he's already played Thorin), and Dean O'Gorman played Sigurd. Miranda Otto could be Brynhild. Plus, New Line wouldn't even have to worry about lawsuits over profits, since the saga is so old, dating back to the 13th century. The story behind it is a folktale.

edited 15th Apr '13 7:07:26 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Well, in a sense, "The Dwarven Song of Old Wealth" is accurate, considering the wealth is dwarven in origin. There's definitely a comparison to be made there.

Who do you think would be a good Fafnir for this hypothetical Sigurd movie? For some reason, I'm thinking Christopher Eccleston. (Come to think of it, he is playing a dark elf in the next Thor movie...)

@Zarek: Eccleston is a good choice for Fafnir. Wasn't his Doctor a bit "edgier" than the other ones? But I'm also thinking Martin Freeman, who mostly plays heroes. Also, Regin was a Dwarf, even a Dwarf prince in one version. His name is a Dwarf name in the Völuspá. And Sigurd got Brynhild to marry Gunnar only because he'd been tricked into marrying Gunnar's sister Gudrun. The story's quite well-known in Scandinavian and German folklore (my friend Wiebke knows the version where he's called Siegfried, doesn't have sex with Brynhild, and bathed in the dragon's blood.)

edited 15th Apr '13 7:34:33 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

@Pyrites: Someone else who likes Diomedes! yay!~

Among Greek/Roman gods, I always liked Hephaestus/Vulcanos. Guy could not get a break...

I like Athena and Hermes.

Densha Otoko.

Cause 21st Century internet folklore needs to be defended by somebody.

^ Seconding.

Dhana: Thanks. Now I can never post about him again, because YOU KNOW WHO ELSE LIKED DIOMEDES? HITLER!

xD

But honestly, Simo Hayha and Jack Churchill are even more awesome than some of these guys, with the added benefit of actually existing :p

@Dhana: Sigurd might have existed...

Technically, any given mythological character might've existed, though the things they did probably weren't quite as awesome as we think of them now.