The Messed-Up Side Of Perseus that "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" Never Elaborated Upon (For Obvious Reasons)

One of the Easter eggs dropped in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is that of Perseus, founder of the kingdom of Mycenae. Yet, there was a messed up origin of Perseus that was never given. Sure, one can think of Perseus as a son of Zeus or one can think of the classic movie Clash of the Titans. Unlike Hercules, Hera was just too indifferent towards Perseus in the movie. Perseus' enemy in the movie was Thetis who mothered the movie-only character Calibos. Thetis in Greek mythology is the mother of Achilles. The story of Clash of the Titans has had some revisions since Pegasus was born from Medusa's blood - not having sided with Perseus. Perseus used winged sandals to fly instead and was sent on errand by King Polydectes - a wicked king who still wanted to marry Perseus' mother Danae.

What was interesting was that in the ultra-violent God of War games - we had the return of two old actors. We had Harry Hamlin voice Perseus a son of Zeus. Later on, we had Kevin Sorbo voice Hercules who's portrayed to be unusually huge. At that point, it seems Hercules and Hera had already reconciled their differences. In the myths, Hercules did save Hera from being raped by her uncle Porphiryon, who was also a brother of their father Cronos. Yeah, you know how messed up it is as Hades is married to his own niece Persephone, and Persephone was born out of Zeus and Demeter, who were also siblings. Though, it was understandable because there were no other people yet unlike the later dynasties.

The family tree of Perseus does get messed up - even before the revelation that Hercules (or Heracles in Greek) is also a descendant of the House of Perseus. The amount of inbreeding in Greek mythology is hard to keep count of. Inbreeding was normal for the gods because they belonged to a time when there were no other people yet. In some versions, Uranus was born a son of Gaia and they become husband and wife since there were no other people yet. In other versions, Uranus was Gaia's brother, and the two married since there were no other people yet. Zeus and Hera were also brother and sister and so were their parents Cronus and Rhea. 

It can be read that Alcmene was actually a granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda. Amphitryon was both first cousin and maternal uncle to Alcmene. Talk about the inbreeding in the House of Perseus because the gods were so inbred! Yeah, Zeus' inbreeding habits passed down his offspring and Zeus began more inbreeding. It can also be seen in this family tree...

The lineage of Perseus can go all the way back to Io. Zeus had a lover named Io and there was the hundred-eyed monster known as Argos. Io was a mortal lover of Zeus. Zeus himself disguised Io as a cow. It was through that union that Zeus and Io had a son named Epaphus. From Epaphus and Memphis came Libya. It's revealed that Poseidon impregnated his grandniece since Zeus and Poseidon are brothers, making Poseidon the uncle of Epaphus. If I'm not wrong, Tityas (a son of Zeus and Elara) also had a daughter who had a child with Poseidon. Okay, how F*CKED up is that? Maybe, one should know that Poseidon even had a child named Antaeus with his own GRANDMOTHER Gaia. It's also said that Hephaestus also has a child with Gaia his GREAT GRANDMOTHER too. 

We can count several generations later and we realize Perseus is severely inbred from Zeus down to Acrisius. Poseidon is also his ancestor and uncle at the same time. Acrisius would be a descendant of Zeus six generations later. Acrisius would later hear the prophecy that his own grandson would kill him. Yeah, that scene from the movie where Zeus destroyed Acrisius for the deed. That means Zeus already had the habit of recycling his own genes among his mortal descendants! Zeus showed himself as a shower of gold to his GREATX5 GRANDDAUGHTER and impregnated her with Perseus. Since Acrisius was a descendant of Io that makes it a double jeopardy. Acrisius probably had no idea he was a descendant of Zeus. Call it multiple times inbred because Zeus wasn't only Perseus' father but also Perseus' GREATX6 GRANDFATHER!

Perseus marries Andromeda and the two have children. Okay, just thinking about Zeus' final scene dialogue in Clash of the Titans can creep anyone out IF they knew what happened generations later. Alcmene was more than just a great-granddaughter of Zeus. Tracing back, Alcmene was already a descendant of Io as well. Alcmene was already the GREATX8 GRANDDAUGHTER OF ZEUS! Imagine that Hercules didn't only have Zeus as a father but also as a GREATX2 GRANDFATHER but also a GREATX10 GRANDFATHER. How can things get more messed up than that? It freaks me out thinking of Claire Bloom as Hera. Hera was indifferent about Perseus, even mockingly stating that Zeus had so many women, how could he possibly remember Danae? Hera would have an intense hatred for Hercules generations later. 

What Hercules the Legendary Journeys also never mentioned was the meaning of the name Hercules. In Greek, Hercules is Heracles or "The Glory of Hera". It was a failed attempt to mollify Hera's wrath. Hercules practically had the blood of Perseus and Epaphus, and the gods' inbred traits. I was even thinking that's why inbreeding was a common practice back then. Instead, we know inbreeding works in real life, RIGHT?