#2 - Hydra

The Hydra is a Greek mythical beast, an aquatic serpent with many heads (the number varies, but it's a lot) that grow back double when cut off. The Hydra was the offspring of a woman-snake hybrid named Echidna and a giant man-snake hybrid named Typhon (a son of Gaia and a participant in the war of the titans). Echidna and Typhon had 9 other monsters in their brood, two of which (Cerberus and Chimera) are also represented in the MIMP series.


After Echidna and Typhon attacked Zeus in retaliation for his treatment of the Titans (Typhon's family), their children were placed as challenges for heroes (aka Hercules). According to the legend, Hydra was placed on Lerna to protect a entrance to the underworld, where Hercules was sent on his second labor. When Hercules realized he could not just use brute force, his nephew started to cauterize Hydra's necks to keep heads from growing back. When Hera saw this, she sent the crab Cancer to attack Hercules as well. Long story short, Hercules killed the monsters and stole a bit of Hydra's poisonous blood for a later task. Hera memorialized the monsters and the battle as constellations next to each other.

Popular culture abounds with references to the Hydra myth. The most direct are the multiple accounts of the Hercules myth, from the animated to the stop motion (see above). As always, Hydra is frequently referenced by rock bands (Hydra Head records, an album by Satariel, an album by Toto, and the band Hydra). The name is also frequently referenced in connection with secretive organizations (Marvel comics, the Dharma Initiative on LOST). There is also a microscopic aquatic anima nicknamed Hydra for it's ability to grow back from even the smallest fragment.

Ultimately, the first two monsters in the series are fairly similar (scaly, multiple heads, dragon looking), but next week we go mammal.