The Hero Faces the Monster

A hero, a monster, a princess: this illumination from the Collection of Tales of Troy, a manuscript from the 15th century, captures an archetypal scene of myths and epics. Hercules, armed with his famous club but dressed in an anachronistic suit of armor, faces a sea monster (called a killer whale) in front of the walls of Troy in defence of King Laomedon’s daughter Hezione, promised as a sacrifice to appease Poseidon. A late interpolation in the myth of Hercules, this scenario is very close to that of Perseus coming to the rescue of Andromeda, but also many exploits of knights or holy dragonslayers. Fantasy maintains this tradition but tries to allow the moral attributions (hero-monster) and the relationships of domination (man-woman) to evolve.