9 Disturbing Origin Stories Behind Famous Disney Characters

2. Hercules Is Beyond Messed Up In The Head

Since the original Greek myths are, as a whole, the very worst bedtime stories ever told, it should come as no surprise that the version of Hercules displayed in the 1997 Disney movie isn't exactly a note-for-note representation of the true legend. Yep, this story about the son of a god going from "zero to hero" is mercifully abridged to exclude the classic Greek tropes of rape, infidelity, and murder. (Well, for the most part. Hades does technically try to kill Hercules...even as a baby.) Let's start from the beginning, er, the inception. Zeus, the all-powerful king of gods, the ruler of Olympus, and the hurler of thunder bolts, tricked a human woman (i.e. not his wife, Hera) into accepting his illegitimate seed and spawning a human/god hybrid. So that kind of set Hercules onto an awkward path from the start. Unsurprisingly, he later acted out as a child by straight up slaughtering his music tutor with a lyre. Meanwhile, his stepmother Hera injects every ounce of her resentment about him into the poor kid's psyche, causing lifelong trauma. After marrying and having multiple children, all of that old resentment festers to the point that he takes it out on his own offspring. By slaughtering them as well. And his wife. But it all works out because he eventually becomes an immortal who can dwell on his many, many regrets and misgivings for an eternity.