Talos

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This article is about the automaton in Greek mythology. For other uses, see Talos (disambiguation).

Winged Talos armed with a stone. Silver didrachm from Phaistos, Crete (ca. 300/280-270 BC), obverse. (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris)

In Greek mythology, Tálos (Greek Τάλων; Lat. Talus) was a bronze automaton whom Zeus gave to Europa. In one telling he was forged by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes and given to Minos. According to Apollodorus and Argonautica he may have been a member of the Bronze Generation who had survived to the age of the demigods. Europa took him to Crete and he stayed there, circling the island's shore three times daily while guarding it. He threw rocks at any approaching ship. Talos is said to have heated himself red-hot and clasped strangers in his embrace as soon as they landed on the island.

Talos had one vein which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. The Argo, containing Jason and the Argonauts, approached Crete after obtaining the Golden Fleece. As guardian of the island, Talos kept the Argo at bay by hurling great boulders at it. According to Apollodorus, Talos was slain either when Medea the sorceress drove him mad with drugs, deceived him that she would make him mortal by removing the nail, or was killed by Poeas's arrow (Apollodorus 1.140). In Argonautica, Medea hypnotizes him from the Argo, driving him mad so that he dislodges the nail and dies (Argonautica 4.1638). In any case, when the nail is removed, Talos's ichor flows out, exsanguinating and killing him. The story is somewhat reminiscent of the story regarding the heel of Achilles.

Apollodorus. Bibliotheke I, 26; Apollonius Rhodius. Argonautica IV, 1638-93

[edit] Interpretation

A political interpretation of the myth tells that Talos is the Minoan fleet armed with metallic weapons. When the Greeks from the Argo defeat him, the power of Crete vanishes^{[citation needed]}.

Robert Graves (whose interpretation of Greek mythology is controversial among many scholars) suggests that this myth is based on a misinterpretation of a picture of Athena demonstrating the Lost Wax process for casting bronze, which Daedalus brought to Sardinia.

[edit] Later references

In Book Five of Edmund Spenser's allegorical poem the Faerie Queene, Talus (now made of iron) appears as the law-enforcement sidekick of Artegal, the Knight of Justice.

On the Disney animated series Gargoyles, in the second season episode "The New Olympians", modern day descendants of prominent Greek mythical figures set up sanctuary on a remote island. Among them is Talos, or rather a new version of Talos, depicted as a hulking bronze centurion with glowing red eyes inside a faceless helm. The new Talos obviously has upgrades that the elder Talos would have lacked, as seen in one sequence when he threatens Proteus with some sort of laser cannon built into the top of his arm.

Jesuit classicist Father Stanislaus Hogan SJ once famously joked that if he were to attend a Greek mythology-themed dress-up party, he would attend as Talos. When asked who Talos was his exact words were, 'a sort of giant automaton type character.'

In the computer game Dark Quest IX, level 14, Danger in Hades, Talos is a huge monster who the player must defeat with Infernal Fire Bolts and Inferno Blasters to pass to the next level, Trouble in Dis.

Talos is in the Monster in My Pocket series.

In the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000 the Talos is an automaton in the form of a scorpion. It is used as a torture device by the Dark Eldar.

In Dragon Quest VIII, Talos is the name of a monster that can be captured and placed on a monster team. He looks like the traditional Dragon Quest stone statue, a clear reference to this mythical figure.

Talos is a "triple iron golem" serving the archdevil Dispater in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Talos is also the name of an evil god of thunder and destruction in the game's Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

In the Elder Scrolls series, The first emperor of the Cyrodiilic Empire, Tiber Septim, was at one point named Talos. He also used an automaton by the name of Numidium. He would later become one of the Nine Divines.

Talos is a boss monster in Shining Force II, mistakenly named "Taros", a good example of Engrish. On the combat screen, Talos appears as two legs and a sword moving up and down, because it's too tall to all show.

The story of Talos may also have inspired the origin of the Japanese anime robot Mazinger Z.

In Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance Talos appears right at the beginning where Juste has to outrun him until he gets to the castle bridge then later in the game appears as a Boss. The only way he can be hurt is to attack his heel.

Talos of the Wilderness Sea is a comic by Gil Kane and Jan Strnad.

In the novel Spartan written by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Talos is the name given to the crippled Spartan child who was exposed in the Taygetus mountains by his father due to Spartan law decreeing all newborns who were weak or disabled be abandoned in the nearby mountain range. When the baby is found by the elderly Helot shepherd he is named after the mythical bronze giant Talos who was said to have his weakness in his right leg. The child's deformity laid within his right leg and hence he was given the name Talos. In addition the name would remind the young boy of his disability in future in order to further compell him to strengthen himself.

In the novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, the author originally chose the surname Talos for the character eventually renamed Willie Stark, a Southern governor. The name was intended to highlight the character's protective and yet parasitic relationship with the poor rural 'hicks' who made up his constituency. On the advice of his editor, Warren changed the surname to sound more stereotypically Anglo-American, but a restored version of the novel edited by literary critic Noel Polk and released in 2001 reverted to the original surname of Talos.

In the videogame Spartan: Total Warrior Talos is an automaton sent by the Roman army to destroy the walls of Sparta. The player must defeat him through use of catapults.

In the MMORPG City of Heroes, Talos was a giant superhero looking something like a minotaur who perished fighting huge monster, which tore cracks in the earth and created an island. A great statue of the hero was erected near there, and the island was named 'Talos Island' in his honor.

In the children's action/adventure television show, Class of the Titans, the main villain reawakens Talos, casting a protection spell over his ankle bolt to keep it from being removed. Three of the seven heroes come up with a plan and manage to knock Talos into the island volcano.

The 1963 film, Jason and the Argonauts, features a detailed stop motion animation sequence of Talos as a bronze giant in battle with the Argonauts.

In the Book of the Long Sun novels written by Gene Wolfe, a talos is a simple-minded chemical automaton made from bronze utilising tracks for movement. They were part of the ship's complement of chemical crew that were used to protect areas of the asteroid that the colonists (cargo) inhabited. Some of them were reprogrammed for personal use and protection by the inhabitants and the gods of Mainframe. A more intelligent creation, "Doctor" Talos, is a supporting character in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.