Hydra in popular culture

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The Hydra in popular culture is inspired by the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology.

Contents 1 Film 2 Role-playing games 3 Video Games 4 In Disney's Hercules 5 In Music 6 Other Uses in Popular Culture

[edit] Film

• A stop motion Hydra features prominently in the film Jason and the Argonauts and is one of several stop motion creatures brought to life in the film by Ray Harryhausen.

[edit] Role-playing games

In many RPGs set in a fantasy setting, the Hydra is a common type of monster that can be faced by players. Depending on the setting, they typically have three to seven heads, and may or may not be able to regenerate more.

• In the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game and Rifts, the Hydra is a type of Dragon, albeit a feral and less intelligent kind. It has seven heads, and each head has a different type of breath weapon. It can regenerate any lost head, but cannot gain more heads through regeneration. Some rare mutations of Hydra, however, may have eight or nine heads.

[edit] Video Games

Any number of serpentlike many-headed menaces that are not "killed" by a single direct hit are given the name "Hydra". The Lernaean Hydra was sited at Lerna; it did not appear as an adversary elsewhere.

• Hydra appears in the third stage of the Monster in My Pocket video game, colored purple and spitting out blue flames and the player. Multiple hydras appear on a sloped city street with many fire hydrants.

• Hydra appears as bosses in Square Enix's Sword of Mana, where it is stationary and has two heads, one of which breaths poisonous gas and the other of which spits water at the player, and Secret of Mana, where it has two heads and is not stationary, but walks around the playing field.

• The Hydra from Disney's Hercules (see below) also appears as a boss in the game Kingdom Hearts II. It is subsequently beaten by Sora (the main character) and a small host of Disney characters.

• The Hydra appears as a boss in the PS2 game God of War, where the playable character, Kratos, fights several of its heads onboard a ship in the Aegean Sea. Kratos's final battle with the Hydra shows its three remaining heads - the largest one is able to heal the other two. Kratos fights the two smaller heads first, pins them to the deck, then kills the dominant head by impaling it on the ship's mast. The Hydra appears in the sequel, God of War II, but in the form of armor made from it's scales as an alternative costume for Kratos to wear.

• The Hydra is the first difficult boss the player takes on in the 1988 NES game The Battle of Olympus. It resides in a marsh, deep within the forests of Peloponnesus. It can be defeated when it leaps out of the swamp and towards the hero. The hero must act quickly and aim for its charging head, which will fall off. Repeat 8 times. The reward is a Sword.

• The Hydra appears as a unit in the Warlock castle of Heroes of Might and Magic II, the Fortress army in Heroes of Might and Magic III, as a fourth-tier Chaos unit in Heroes of Might and Magic IV, and a fifth-tier Dungeon unit in Heroes of Might and Magic V.

• Hydras appear as Myth Units in Age of Mythology and its expansion pack Age of Mythology: The Titans.

• In the game Chrono Cross, there are two alternate worlds. In one, the Hydra have been hunted to extinction and no longer reside in their home, the Hydra Marshes. In the other world, a single Hydra remains. The reason for the Hydra's extinction is that their poison is deadly when used in battle, and the only antidote is Hydra Humour, a substance refined from the creature's bodily fluids. Besides being a major boss, the Hydra plays a major part in the storyline of the game.

• In the console game Spartan: Total Warrior The Spartan fights a large hydra in the ruined city of Troy. He uses the Spear of Achilles' god power to blow up an attacking hydra head, and then destroys it with a fire arrow. There is a leader head which is the last head needed to be killed.

• In the Online PC game, Guild Wars, Hydras are hostile creatures similar to T-Rexes and have three heads. There are three different 'breeds' of the hydra, each found in a different region (Ascalon, Crystal Desert, and the Ring of Fire Island Chain).

• In the game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the Ancient Hydra is a 3-headed, poison spouting, Level 10 creep found in the Sunken Ruin type terrain. When killed, the Ancient Hydra splits into two Hydras, sharing a similar but smaller model. When the Hydras are killed they in turn create two Hydra Hatchlings. In addition, Elder Hydras, Hydras, and Hydra Hatchlings may be found independently around the map.

• In the computer game Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, an immortal Hydra is one of the monsters that the Hero must face during the Rites of Passage. The Hero can either work with an opponent in the Rites of Passage, Elsa Von Spielburg (who will either burn the neck stumps or cut off the heads depending on the Hero's job class), or fight the Hydra on his own if he is capable of both cutting off the heads and burning the three neck stumps.

• The Hydra appears in the Heroes of Might and Magic series, usually as a high-end, powerful creature. Usually very resilient and able to attack from 3 (pre upgrade) up to all adjacent creatures, thanks for the multiple heads. It also possess a special ability - 'No retaliation', meaning the enemy cannot counterattack the Hydra's assaults. This is explained as the Hydra being so terryfying, that none would risk an attack on their own.

• The Hydra appears as a high level monster in Final Fantasy XI. Here, it has three heads, two of which can be chopped off at any point in the battle. They can regenerate at random times.

• Hydras are a powerful dragon class in Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, being able to use all 4 breath attacks. They can be found in the Hell's Gate.

• In the game Diablo 2 the Sorceress character can summon a fiery hyrda to fight for her.

• The (King) Hydra is a boss character in the game Dragon Quest III. King Hydra is the enemy who kills the protagonist's father, Ortega.

• The Fourheads (a four-headed snake Piñata) from Viva Piñata is largely based off of the Hydra, also having Trojan based attacks and a Greek temple house.

[edit] In Disney's Hercules

The Hydra makes a major appearance in the Disney animated movie Hercules. In the movie, the Hydra is a giant dragon-like monster that serves as Hercules' first major test as a hero. It starts out with only one head, but as Hercules cuts it off, more grow in its place until it has hundreds. It also makes appearances in Hercules: The Animated Series, and appears as a boss in Kingdom Hearts II (see above).

[edit] In Music

• In Tenacious D's "Wonderboy," Jack Black says "There's the Hydra. Pull out your broadsword. Slice his throat. Grab his scrote."

• T-Rex's song "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" contains the line "You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you." This line is in reference to a woman with whom the singer has had/will have sexual relations.

• In Marilyn Manson's song, "Antichrist Superstar", Manson sings: "Cut the heads off, grows back hard. I am the hydra, now you'll see your star". The reference to the hydra seems to have strong relevance to the anti-christ, and the beasts of the Book of Revelation.

• Toto, the band, released an album in 1979 named Hydra.

• Saint Vitus' Mournful Cries features a hydra on the cover.

[edit] Other Uses in Popular Culture

• In the television series Lost, "The Hydra" is the name of one of The Hanso Foundation's research facilities on the island, focusing on animal research.
• HYDRA, the terrorist organization from Marvel Comics was named after the Hydra because if one of their agents die, two more take their place.

• Hydra is Monster in My Pocket #2.

• While never specifically called such, Hydra also appears occasionally in Castlevania, but usually shown without the body.

• In Magic: The Gathering Ravnica: City of Guilds set, there exists a creature named Phytohydra, which, according to the flavor text, is based on the Lernaean Hydra.

• A very different interpretation appeared in Mighty Max, where Hydra stood at the world's geographical centre, a bipedal giant with only two heads, one representing good, the other evil. When Skullmaster turns the good side dark, it starts the end of the world.

• The Hydra was used in the DC Comics storyline Challenge of the Gods for the character Wonder Woman to battle.

• In the anime series The Big O, Roger Smith does battle with a giant, many-headed serpent monster in the episode entitled Hydra.

• In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a plane, called the "Hydra" is delivered to the abandoned air field after CJ completes the mission "Vertical Bird." Additionally, a Hydra is delivered to CJ's house in Ganton after completing the game 100%.

• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, multi-headed dragon-like creatures are quite common, such as Five-Headed Dragon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Cyber End Dragon, and Chimeratech Overdragon (although there are many more) The Hydra-like monsters listed are among the strongest in the game.

• In the Kirby Air Ride, Hydra is one of two Legendary Machines that the player can obtain in the game's City Trial mode. Hydra has the highest Offense, Defense, HP and Speed ratings of all machines in the game, and can only be used by collecting the three "pieces" found in red boxes in certain parts of the course.

• CHIKARA wrestler Hydra has based his costume and move-set on the Hydra monster.

• American rock band, Deadsy, uses the seven headed Hydra as a symbol for their latest album, Phantasmagore. They explain it as representative as how the diverse fans function as one.