History Main / Medusa

* The first season of ''Series/{{Charmed (2018)}}'' has an interesting approach to the myth, where Medusa actually turns those who won't look at her to stone. Macy "defeats" her by acknowledging her pain.

* One of the ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' strips featured a man who survived a Medusa encounter by being distracted her breasts. In the end it is implied that he got more than a RagingStiffie...

* ''VideoGame/Dota2'' features Medusa as a hero that can be picked. She is notoriously one of the [[MagikarpPower hardest carries]] in the game, capable of 1v5ing entire enemy teams if sufficiently decked out with items. Her ultimate ability, appropriately named ''Stone Gaze'', petrifies anyone who looks at her when activated.

** Medusa heads are a recurring enemy in the games, with the gold variant able to inflict a petrification StatusEffect starting in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood''. Many games of the series have Medusa herself appear as a {{Snake Pe|ople}}rson. Two games have her appear as a gigantic head instead for some reason.

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' has Hitomi Ishigami, a MadArtist who turns unsuspecting people to stone for her private collection. Her snake hair bites people and the venom slowly petrifies them.

** Second Edition's 3rd ''Bestiary'' introduces Sthenos, a playable race that emerged about a century before the setting's present day when an euryale named Stheno, resentful of the constant nightmares plaguing her kind thanks to Lamashtu's "blessings", prayed to the goddess Shelyn for help. Lamashtu's jealous rebuke slew Stheno, but Stheno will and defiance caused each of the one hundred snakes that made up her hair to become a new being; these newborn people took the name of sthenos after their progenitor and went out into the world. Modern sthenos almost completely resemble medusas but lack their petrifying powers; their hair snakes are alive and semi-autonomous, although they share their host's emotions. Sthenos are a scattered and spreading people, without a homeland or a unified culture, and mostly keep their numbers up by mating with humans -- the children of human/stheno pairings are always either human or stheno, more or less randomly.

The ancient Greek origin is that she and her fellow Gorgons were simply created/born that way. In this origin, the Gorgons are typically three sisters, the other two being Stheno and Euryale. The Greek word "gorgon" means "horror". Besides having serpents for hair, the Gorgons were described as having tusks, brazen claws, wings and strongly acidic blood; in a few very early depictions they are shown as quadrupeds, possibly because {{Pegasus}} was born out of Medusa's blood when she was beheaded by Perseus. Later depictions (although still fairly ancient ones, in the absolute sense) gradually toned down to more monstrous aspects and made them more attractive. Note that the Erinnyes (Furiae) were depicted very similarly as hideous snake-haired women.

The ancient Greek origin is that she and her fellow Gorgons were simply created/born that way. In this origin, the Gorgons are typically three sisters, the other two being Stheno and Euryale. The Greek word "gorgon" means "horror". Besides having serpents for hair, the Gorgons were described as having tusks, brazen claws, wings and strongly acidic blood; in a few very early depictions they are shown as quadrupeds, possibly because {{Pegasus}} was born out of Medusa's blood when she was beheaded by Perseus. Note that the Erinnyes (Furiae) were depicted very similarly as hideous snake-haired women.

Medusa's popularity is somewhat NewerThanTheyThink. She doesn't appear that often in media made before the 80s. ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981'' (mentioned below) featured her as one of the monsters -- and it has been said that modern generations owe their knowledge of Medusa to the film.

* While Medusa herself has not appeared in ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'', her sister Euryale has, and she gives an amusing re-interpretation of the legend. Medusa's form was always that way; it was not a curse or anything, and the petrification was under conscious control. The deal with Poseidon in Athena's temple was consensual, and Athena put a price on Medusa's head as a result. Then, Medusa fell in love with this Perseus guy, so they conspired to fake her death at his hands and lived the rest of their lives selling statues.

* Medusa was a Libyan goddess who was equated with Athena before the Greeks defeated them and [[{{Demonization}} demonized her]] as Athena's enemy and inferior.

* A slightly different version of the second origin is that Medusa was willingly seduced by Poseidon rather than raped. In some versions, we'll never know if it was consensual. The ancient Greeks (and a number of modern cultures) define rape as having sex with a woman against the wishes of her patron -- either her husband, her father, or in this case, Athena. The woman's decision is entirely inconsequential.
* There are some variations of the myth that despite what happened to her by Athena, Medusa continued to be faithful and committing rituals for Athena in private since she's ''really'' MarriedToTheJob as a priestess. This was enough to make Athena [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret her decision to turn her into a monster]], but since she couldn't undo it, she helped Perseus as a way to MercyKill Medusa and when all's done good, she put Medusa's head to her shield, less because she wanted to decorate her shield with something awesome, but to posthumously reward her with what she dedicated her life for. This variation tends to hold ground since Greeks believe that Medusa's head on Athena's shield was meant to symbolize extra protection.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Medusas are rather tragic, as they are not innately evil, but rather are driven to pursue their dark desires out of spite, scornful of those who shun them for their curse. They can mate with any race capable of reproduction with humans, although their children are always female and always bear their curse. They also have literal hearts of stone that are constantly petrifying and un-petrifying themselves, and the places they live [[WalkingWasteland tend to be blighted]] because their petrifying gaze indiscriminately wipes out the local wildlife (including pollinators such as birds and insects).
** Medusas normally have entirely human bodies, snake hair aside, but those medusas who mate with powerful humanoids give birth to brazen medusas, who have the lower bodies of giant, bronze-scaled snakes.
** The 6th ''Bestiary'' introduces the euryale, an epically powerful medusa variant supposedly representing ancient medusa sages corrupted by [[OneBadMother Lamashtu]]. They have the lower bodies of giant serpents with stony plate-like scales, and are ''enormously'' powerful -- Challenge Rating 20, which is just behind things on the level of DemonLordsAndArchdevils! As well as the spellcasting abilities of 18th level Oracles, they have a wide array of extra abilities. For starters, not only can they turn the petrified corpses of their victims into [[AnimateInanimateObject animated statue defenders]], but if those corpses [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatter]], they can "consume some of the victim's essence" and [[VampiricDraining restore health by doing so]]. Perhaps not coincidentally, they also have several powerful [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic attacks]], in the form of spell-like abilities for Greater Shout, sonic analogues of Fireball, and even the "kills you if you hear it" Wail of the Banshee spell, and a special trait that makes it easier for them to shatter petrified creatures with their sonic attacks. Their venom and their serpents are much nastier than those of their little sisters, and they can turn any blunt weapon they wield into a Rod of the Viper -- an enchanted item consisting of a [[LivingWeapon live and angry serpent]] they can use to simultaneously beat someone to death and bite repeatedly with venomous fangs. Oh, except their version can also spit fangs like poisoned darts.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'': The dungeon boss Medusa Head the animated head of a snake-haired gorgon who fights Link with petrification powers and damaging EyeBeams.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' and ''IV'' had Medusas as minions of the Dungeon faction. ''II'' had them as neutral (recruitable) creatures. Several of the VideoGame/MightAndMagic games also had medusas. ''VII'' even used the same ''sprite'' as Heroes III.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Majesty}}'', Medusae are a type of enemy, who not only have snakes for hair, but are also serpent from the waist down. ''The Northern Expansion'' introduces the stronger Greater Gorgons.

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'' has the Zombie Medusa. She comes in pushing a tough petrified zombie, and is capable of turning any zombies facing her into durable stone obstacles making her an ObviousRulePatch against the otherwise-overpowered Caulipower (which hypnotizes zombies to fight the horde). Fortunately, she cannot petrify plants, and in a case of DevelopersForesight, if the Snap Pea eats her and spits out her head, it'll turn any zombies near the impact into stone obstacles.

* ''LightNovel/KagerouDaze'': Azami, an immortal being as old as the planet whose long black hair grows as snakes. She can petrify people with eye-contact, but she controls when/if that happens. [[spoiler:She also happens to be the source of the cast's eye powers and creator of the Heat Haze world.]] She and her descendants (daughter Shion and granddaughter Mary) are called 'medusae' as a species, and regarded as monsters. Shion and Mary also inherited her abilities, but they get weaker as the medusa-blood is diluted (Shion is a HalfHumanHybrid, hence her daughter is only 1/4 medusa) - by Mary's generation, the most she can do is freeze people in place for a few minutes at a time and make her hair wiggle like snakes when highly emotional.

** Special mention also goes to the gorgon [[DimensionalTraveler planeswalker]] [[Characters/MagicTheGatheringPlaneswalkersPostMending Vraska]], a major character in storylines relating to the {{City Plane|t}} Ravnica. Like other Ravnican gorgons, she has serpent tails, rather than heads, for hair.

* There are some variations of the myth that despite what happened to her by Athena, Medusa continued to be faithful and committing rituals for Athena in private since she's ''really'' MarriedToTheJob as a priestess. This was enough to make Athena [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret her decision to turn her into a monster]], but since she couldn't undo it, she helped Perseus as a way to MercyKill Medusa and when all's done good, she put Medusa's head to her shield, less because she wanted to decorate her shield with something awesome, but to posthumously reward her with what she dedicated her life for. This variation tends to hold ground since Greeks believe that Medusa's head on Athena's shield were meant to symbolize extra protection.

* [[CuteMonsterGirl Marina]] in ''Webcomic/MonsterPop'' has snakes for hair and needs to wear sunglasses so she doesn't petrify anyone. This doesn't stop her from being completely {{Adorkable}}, though.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}''. The heads of dead gorgons persist in the Underworld, haunting the Fields of Asphodel where Zagreus may occasionally encounter them as an enemy. They hover over the river Phlegethon, and launch projectiles that petrify Zagreus on hit. Nyx also employs a much friendlier gorgon head, called Dusa, as a maid[[note]]in other words, ''[[PunnyName maid-dusa]]''[[/note]] in the House of Hades, who can be interacted with between runs.

[[quoteright:350:[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mm35_pg181.png]]]]

In almost all versions, Medusa is humanoid (although a snake tail is optional) and AlwaysFemale. In some versions, her hair-snakes are venomous. In others, they are not literal snakes but rather hair that supernaturally behaves as if it were made of living snakes. When a version contain a male Medusa, it's usually some [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] with some other name. Medusa's appearance varies depending on what source you're reading. The most popular is that of a hideous monster; in fact, the petrification originally was caused by Medusa's ugliness itself, before other myths retconned it into being a power based in her eyes. Other myths say that Medusa retained her mortal beauty, as a cruel {{Irony}}. And then there are some that offer a compromise and state that she was both beautiful ''and'' terrible at the same time.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' Medusas have always been a species, but they have undergone some changes between editions.
** In 2nd edition, Medusas are a race resembling elven maidens with serpents for hair and the ability to petrify with their gaze, even affecting creatures on the Ethereal or Astral Planes (into which they can see). Approximately 10% of the females are "Greater Medusae", who have super-toxic blood and [[SnakePeople a giant snake's body in lieu of humanoid legs]]. There are also male Medusae, called Maedar, who appear as [[BizarreSexualDimorphism bald muscular elven men]]. Maedar are ridiculously rare; whereas female Medusae produce 2-6 Medusa daughters by [[InterspeciesRomance mating with human men]], the result of a Medusa/Maedar coupling is 2-6 offspring, with 25% being male and the remaining 75% being female. Only ''1%'' of the males are Maedar; the rest of them, and ''all'' of the females, are pure human. In addition to lacking the hair-snakes, Maedar have no petrifying gaze; instead, they are immune to petrification, paralyzation and Medusa venom, can walk through stone, and can undo petrification with a touch.
** In editions 3 and 3.5, Medusae are an AlwaysFemale species with a humanoid body but serpentine skin. See page illustration. Petrifying Gaze attack as well as poison bites from the hair snakes come with the package. It is mentioned that Medusae can procreate with any humanoid species, the offspring normally becomes Medusae. There is no official cure for the petrification, but advanced magic can do the job. In ''Savage Species,'' several intelligent monsters including Medusas were made into playable classes: If you wanted to play a Medusa under the standard rules you had to start at level 10 or higher, but with Savage Species you could start as a level 1 immature Medusa who had not yet developed her full potential. The same expansions also introduced a Feat that allowed Medusas to enable and disable their gaze attack at will or to focus it at specific opponents, allowing others to see their faces without being turned to stone unless the Medusa wants to do so. Sadly, like most monsters in the book, Medusas are CoolButInefficient due to not only losing so many class levels to normal player character races, but also because their two main powers (petrification and poison) are things that are extremely dangerous to normal PC races but something that [[UselessUsefulSpell many monsters are immune or highly resistant to]].
** In fourth edition, Medusae are a species in the usual sense, with both males and females. The female are the classic medusa, pretty much the same as in the previous edition except that she can now un-petrify her victims by applying a drop of her own blood. The males have different powers, in that they're bald (so no snake-hair attacks) and they can poison with their gaze rather than petrify, rather like certain mythological depictions of the basilisk. Having male medusas with different powers has been done by the game before, as stated above, but this is the first time the concept made it into a core book. Both sexes resemble the scaly humanoid from 3rd edition, though with less haggish features.
** In the fifth addition, Medusae look like humans with snakes for hair, have males with identical powers and are cursed to turn into Medusae on an individual basis.
* In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' setting "TabletopGame/ScarredLands", the Medusae species was created by the titan Mormo. In this setting, pretty much everything was created by the Titans, including the Gods. Two centuries ago, the Gods rose up against them in what came to be known as the Titanswar or The Divine War. The Medusae was initially an important force at the titan's side, but they switched side to serve the Gods — particularly the neutral evil goddess Belsameth.
* In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' setting ''{{TabletopGame/Eberron}}'', Medusae have a unique culture largely based around avoiding looking someone in the eyes--they're not immune to the petrifying gaze of other medusae, so its kind of the only choice. They were created by the [[EldritchAbomination daelkyr]], but broke free when the [[SealedEvilInACan creatures were sealed away]]. Oh, and there are explicitly males as well--where do you think all the baby medusae come from?

* Medusa's are among the creatures you can summon in ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}''. True to the myth, they can turn other characters to stone. You can also summon only a Medusa's head, which Maxwell himself can use to petrify others.

* ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'': Bloodwrack Medusae, former sorceress turned into monsters by a jealous goddess, are a type of monster unit in the Dark Elf army roster. Their deadly gaze is represented as a powerful magic missile capable of tearing through ranks of infantry. They're fairly typical snake-bodied medusae beyond having additional snakes sprouting from their lower bodies; while most have bright green scales, their unique Regiment of Renown, the Siren of Red Ruin, has coppery red scales instead.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}''. The heads of dead gorgons persist in the Underworld, haunting the Fields of Asphodel where Zagreus may occasionally encounter them as an enemy. They hover over the river Phlegethon, and launch projectiles that petrify Zagreus on hit. Nyx also employs a much friendlier gorgon head, called Dusa, as a maid[[note]]in other words, ''[[PunnyName maid-dusa]]''[[/note]] in the House of Hades, who can be interacted with between runs.