While watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it was easy to see two enemies of Hercules namely his stepmother Hera and his half-brother Ares (son of his father Zeus and his stepmother Hera). I thought of how these two were carried out.
Hera first appeared to be only heard or only appeared as a green-eyed apparition which never happened in the myths. Unless of course, you'd want to interpret it that Hera herself appeared as two eyes watching over Zeus' affairs. A lot of Zeus' misdeeds were attributed to her during the whole series' run such as separating Echidna from her husband or trying to reclaim fire from mortals. What was interesting also was that as time passed, her significance in the series was soon diminished in favor of Ares. Only after four seasons did Hera appear in her true form, played by Meg Foster. I wish that Foster herself played the part of Hera all throughout the series as she can play the mentally unstable, sharp-tongued, mean-spirited goddess! But problem is she's far deviated from the myth.
Ares like his mother Hera was a constant enemy of Hercules. During the first season, he hardly showed up except giving orders by a voice. While his mother Hera had a pair of eyes to disguise her, he had an image of a skull to disguise himself. Like his mother - he would also have a habit of possessing other people's bodies like when he possessed Jarton's body so he could fight Hercules. Later on, he would be played by the late Kevin Smith. The actor's appearance was where he ended up taking his mother Hera's place as the main antagonist even if the intro had not changed one bit. Most of Hercules' battles in the later series was against Ares and his minions who didn't really take direct orders from Hera. It was only until later that he started taking orders from his mother again in "Reunions". Like in the myths, he is spoken off very negatively and has shown more cruelty than his own mother.
Hera first appeared to be only heard or only appeared as a green-eyed apparition which never happened in the myths. Unless of course, you'd want to interpret it that Hera herself appeared as two eyes watching over Zeus' affairs. A lot of Zeus' misdeeds were attributed to her during the whole series' run such as separating Echidna from her husband or trying to reclaim fire from mortals. What was interesting also was that as time passed, her significance in the series was soon diminished in favor of Ares. Only after four seasons did Hera appear in her true form, played by Meg Foster. I wish that Foster herself played the part of Hera all throughout the series as she can play the mentally unstable, sharp-tongued, mean-spirited goddess! But problem is she's far deviated from the myth.
Ares like his mother Hera was a constant enemy of Hercules. During the first season, he hardly showed up except giving orders by a voice. While his mother Hera had a pair of eyes to disguise her, he had an image of a skull to disguise himself. Like his mother - he would also have a habit of possessing other people's bodies like when he possessed Jarton's body so he could fight Hercules. Later on, he would be played by the late Kevin Smith. The actor's appearance was where he ended up taking his mother Hera's place as the main antagonist even if the intro had not changed one bit. Most of Hercules' battles in the later series was against Ares and his minions who didn't really take direct orders from Hera. It was only until later that he started taking orders from his mother again in "Reunions". Like in the myths, he is spoken off very negatively and has shown more cruelty than his own mother.
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