History Main / SadlyMythtaken

*** Beowulf, the hero of the Geats in the old English poem, is actually a dog-demon thing that becomes gauntlets and greaves that glow with light in this series. It's like they got him confused with Beowulf's greatest enemy Grendel. Also, Beowulf's name and design really make no sense at all when you discover where his likeness came from. His original inspiration was almost certainly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazuzu Pazuzu]], a Babylonian demon of disease, who literally looks exactly like Beowulf. Scorpion tail? Check. Two pairs of wings? Check. Claws on the feet and hands? Check. The face of a dog? Check. Yet despite all of this, they name him Beowulf, and call him a demon of light.

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' is based on the admittedly common misconception that dragons are typical to Nordic myths. The same franchise's ChristmasSpecial also [[YouMeanXmas makes up a winter holiday]], even though ''Jôl'' (winter solstice) was already one of the Vikings' most significant holidays before it was replaced by Christmas.

** The [[MotherOfAThousandYoung progenitor of all the monster races]] is named Eve, who is a biblical character tempted into evil by a monster. The Greeks actually called this monster-mother Echidna. She's probably also based on Lilith, the mother of all ''demons'' and Adam's first wife from Jewish mythology, but [[OneSteveLimit that name was already used for another character in the show]]. To be fair, it's the character who names herself "Eve" and she's explicitly not the biblical Eve, who is mentioned in the final season by Adam.

** The creatures called gorgons are not remotely like the Gorgon sisters of Greek myth. Instead, they appear to be based on the khalkotauroi, large bulls with bronze hooves and teeth that can breathe fire. Except in ''D&D'', they have petrifying breath based on Medusa's ability to turn whatever looks at her to stone.

** And of course one might assume that mixing up Ra and Horus because they both have birds for heads is a modern invention but it is ''also'' a confusion that the ancient Egyptians had. One of Ra's titles was "Horus of the Two Horizons".

** Not only that but the movie mentions that not only does Persephone hate Hades, but she has so many affairs that she had to come up with a way to get her lovers out without Hades finding out. Neither Hades nor Persephone ''ever'' had an affair in the original mythology (The story of Adonis actaully features her as a mother figure rather than a lover, and Minthe and Leuce didn't exist in Greek Mythology all three stories are also ''Roman'' inventions) but Persephone is occasionally mentioned to prefer the company of Hades over that of ''her own mother''.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'':
** Pretty much in every single one of its numerous incarnations, does this to a very minuscule extent. However, they're generally excused for what little creative license they take for the sheer amount they get '''''[[ShownTheirWork right]]''''', especially given the prevalence of this trope. As the massive bibliographies for the games included in some of the Japanese-only companion books clearly indicate, this is not so much a mistake as RuleOfCool. Rather disappointingly, though, especially with its traditionally major role in the franchise, [[MascotMook Cerberus]] remains some sort of lion-wolf with only one head in all but three games, due to its portrayal in the original ''Literature/{{Digital Devil Story}}'' novels and anime [[AdaptationDisplacement from which the video games took off]].

** The Egyptian god Seth is traditionally depicted as an animal that somewhat resembles a jackal, an aardvark, a fox, or a combination all of the above. Not in SMT, however; here, he's depicted as a ''gigantic black dragon''. This is in contrast to all the other Egyptian gods in the series that are accurately portrayed (for example, Horus, Seth's foil, is portrayed as a falcon like in the myths). This may also be another artifact of ''Literature/DigitalDevilStory'' where he had a serpentine and draconic appearance; the author admitted that Set's appearance as a snake was inspired by Creator/RobertEHoward.

* ''Videogame/KidIcarus'':

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* A definitely intentional example in ''WebComic/OlympusOverdrive''. Poseidon's [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal ...uh...encounter]] with Medusa is reduced to a mere consensual kiss. Poseidon's one of the main characters, and you can't very well be sympathetic character after that.
* This happens all throughout ''WebComic/HolyBibble''. While the comic does get some things right, it also plays fast and loose with the facts of mythology fairly often. IE: The goddess Nanshe is Satan's daughter. Osiris and Anubis are the same person: a female fallen angel who likes to cosplay. Humbaba is a monster ordered up by Shamash from a vending machine in Tartarus.

* ''Manhwa/{{Ragnarok}}'' has the [[TheStoic stoic]] Loki and the woman Fenrir, which people like to pair up. In mythology Loki was a TricksterGod and Fenrir was not only his ''son'', but an ''absolutely [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever gigantic]] wolf''.

* ''The Song Of Hiawatha'' was an epic poem that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed by mashing together several Native American legends, myths, and actual historical events into a single narrative. The basic story was about all he got right.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'''s portrayal of most mythic beings, for example the Banshee causes deaths rather than just foretelling them and Sleipnir has four legs instead of eight. However ''Gargoyles'' does not claim to represent the myths, but rather the "real" events that evolved into the myths, so this is mostly deliberate. The various gods and such were clearly presented as being related to TheFairFolk of European folklore, in keeping with the show's world-spanning CrossoverCosmology. And not everything is different from the myths: for example, Anubis is quite neutral and emphatic about his nonpartisan role, not evil as in many modern stories. Also, the series' co-creator has explained that the error involving Sleipnir's legs was due to the animation company being unable to animate an eight-legged horse, and presenting him as a four-legged one was better than not having him at all, or just using crappy animation. He stated he would've greatly preferred an eight-legged horse, but had no choice. So, he {{hand wave}}s as best he can in his mind: like all the other Third Race, the horse is also a shapeshifter.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' portrays the Monkey King as a CardCarryingVillain and TricksterArchetype obsessed with chaos and random acts of destruction, which is about as far from his original heroic nature in ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' as possible.

** In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', [[spoiler:the Sicilian and Roman soldiers mistake the German planes for dragons]], but the concept of dragons as flying creatures is a medieval invention, with Greco-Roman dragons resembling giant snakes.

* In a very early ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode when Mr Garisson was [[ArmoredClosetGay deep in denial about his sexuality]], he gets [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] and homosexuals mixed up.

* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': The film presents a very altered version of Greek myth, which is usual for WW though the film took some liberties that are not common for WW. Some of the most notable departures include:

** Ares was also one of two gods of war. For the Greeks, he represented physical strength, valour, anger, and violence, far from the scheming planner of the film, though Ares taking on the scheming bits of Mars is common in Wonder Woman tales.
** Humankind was created by Prometheus, who later tricked Zeus into accepting bones and fat from animal sacrifice so that humans would be able to keep the meat, and stole fire from Zeus on humankind's behalf. Zeus was actually behind the plan to release evil upon humankind with the whole Pandora thing, rather than being the beneficent father-creator god described by Hippolyta.

Sometimes this is the result of cultural appropriation where the cultural practices of one group are picked up by other people which sometimes causes myths or rituals to take on new meanings. This is one of the reasons why OurMonstersAreDifferent is what it is. May be accompanied by SymbologyResearchFailure. Contrast ExternalRetcon, where the story intentionally "reveals" that the events happened differently from what a previous story or legend says.

Sometimes this is the result of cultural appropriation where the cultural practices of one group are picked up by other people which sometimes causes myths or rituals to take on new meanings. This is one of the reasons why OurMonstersAreDifferent is what it is. May be accompanied by SymbologyResearchFailure.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'''s portrayal of most mythic beings, for example Sleipnir having four legs instead of eight. However ''Gargoyles'' does not claim to represent the myths, but rather the "real" events that evolved into the myths, so this is mostly deliberate. The various gods and such were clearly presented as being related to TheFairFolk of European folklore, in keeping with the show's world-spanning CrossoverCosmology. And not everything is different from the myths: for example, Anubis is quite neutral and emphatic about his nonpartisan role, not evil as in many modern stories. Also, the series' co-creator has explained that the error involving Sleipnir's legs was due to the animation company being unable to animate an eight-legged horse, and presenting him as a four-legged one was better than not having him at all, or just using crappy animation. He stated he would've greatly preferred an eight-legged horse, but had no choice. So, he {{hand wave}}s as best he can in his mind: like all the other Third Race, the horse is also a shapeshifter.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' portrayal of most mythic beings, for example Sleipnir having four legs instead of eight. However ''Gargoyles'' does not claim to represent the myths, but rather the "real" events that evolved into the myths, so this is mostly deliberate. The various gods and such were clearly presented as being related to TheFairFolk of European folklore, in keeping with the show's world-spanning CrossoverCosmology. And not everything is different from the myths: for example, Anubis is quite neutral and emphatic about his nonpartisan role, not evil as in many modern stories. Also, the series' co-creator has explained that the error involving Sleipnir's legs was due to the animation company being unable to animate an eight-legged horse, and presenting him as a four-legged one was better than not having him at all, or just using crappy animation. He stated he would've greatly preferred an eight-legged horse, but had no choice. So, he {{hand wave}}s as best he can in his mind: like all the other Third Race, the horse is also a shapeshifter.

** One of the most talked-about examples is the episode "Hammer of the Gods", in which ''all'' pagan deities are man-eaters. It's vaguely interpreted that gods feast on human flesh when there's little faith left to sustain them... in which case, it's surprising to hear that ''all of India'' must have embraced Islam at some point in the history of the ''Supernatural''-verse for it to make any sense that the Hindu gods would be in that situation. WordOfGod says it's actually sacrifices that fuel the pagan gods, not faith, hence why Kali has been reduced to man-eating.

** ArchangelGabriel is strangely TheTrickster. In fairness he's pretending to be Loki, but no traditional interpretation of Gabriel puts him anywhere near that personality.

** One of the most talked-about examples is the episode "Hammer of the Gods", in which all pagan deities are man-eaters. It's vaguely interpreted that gods feast on human flesh when there's little faith left to sustain them... in which case, it's surprising to hear that ''all of India'' embraced Islam at some point in the history of the Supernatural-verse. WordOfGod says it's actually sacrifices that fuel the pagan gods, not faith, hence why Kali has been reduced to man-eating.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones''

* Lampshaded and averted in ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' , when Heather asks her roomate Sahira (who is Hindu) why she hasn't likened her to a Hindu goddesses (since she has six arms), Sahira laughs it off and tells her she only bears the most superficial resemblance to a Hindu goddess, and it would be like saying she looks like Jesus because she grew a beard. Played with later, when Sahira ends up with six arms (long story)[[note]]Sahira's superpower is the ability to briefly mimic others' superpowers and six arms are Heather's primary power. [[/note]] and saves a bus full of children. A small Indian girl clearly thinks she looks like Shiva, and Sahira politely denies it.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': In one issue, Loki is making a BadassBoast, and he references his children but claims that Fenrir is called "Sun-Eater". In Norse myth, Fenrir is destined to kill Odin at Ragnarok. His ''son'' Skoll is the one that eats the sun (his other son, Hati, eats the moon).

* The ''Website/HowStuffWorks'' page "[[https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/10-incredible-dragons.htm#pt8 10 Incredible Dragons We'd Like to Meet (or Run From)]]" is somehow under the impression Kilgharrah appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia regum Britanniae'', rather than being completely made up for the TV series ''Series/{{Merlin}}''.