Comments: 14
Deyran [2012-04-07 20:04:10 +0000 UTC]
Wow, very impressive work here!
Now, I looked up the original hydra and was... dissatisfied, to say the least. Your interpretation is truly much more fitting and worthy of legend. And I really like the design of the heads. Intimidating and yet undeniably functional.
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SweMu [2012-03-31 15:48:11 +0000 UTC]
Lol, at the lame oooold hydra art but I feel must point out that they all seem to be based on that one pot. So it could all be from a single artists impretation of the original text(or spoken word if thats how the story originated)
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Level9Drow In reply to SweMu [2012-03-31 23:50:43 +0000 UTC]
Either way it was accepted back then and not questioned meaning that everyone accepted this as THE hydra. In this sense it is not a very frightening hydra. We can, therefore, change it for our modern sensibilities to a more realistically threatening beast worthy of legend.
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SweMu In reply to Level9Drow [2012-04-01 00:53:14 +0000 UTC]
Id love to read a translation of the oldest written down version of the story to see how it is actually described.
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Level9Drow In reply to SweMu [2012-04-01 13:22:20 +0000 UTC]
It's small, but the snakes are very very long, they coil throughout the swamp on an individual basis so you will see one but not the others or the body. But if you fallowed it back to its source you find the scaly football mound thingy with snakes going out from it, some present and some coiled off many many feet into the trees and swamp. In the tale he gets hindered by one of the heads while looking for the body. See what i mean? but the head is small, as he pulls it off with his hand or something liek that. I dont even thing hydras in the original story could swallow a man, funny how it would attack one. Snakes cant tear meat like other carnivors, their only option is to swallow whole. Its not poisonous so whats the danger? Im sure the hydra "hurts" but nothing you couldnt shrug off and find its body, which is what heracles did.
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SweMu In reply to Level9Drow [2012-04-01 17:34:30 +0000 UTC]
Interesting, and very different from popular media depictions of it. Then again, most of the greek mythological creatures in todays popular media seems to be based more on Ray Harrihausens redesigns of them rather than the original texts.
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Lordoffantasy [2012-03-31 05:45:08 +0000 UTC]
the hydra of my design is a complete monster. it is artificially created, though dragon blood is involved. they have raw destructive impluses, more akin to a wrecking ball than a predator. it has the unique ability of being nearly unkillable if not struck in its weak points. it has large, raw amount of magical energy, which is almsot solely focused into regeneration; the magical energy makes up for the sheer amount of nutrition that would be needed, though it appetite is still endless. however, its ability is its weakness. because of it high regeneration factor, its heart is immensely vulnerable, and is, unlike tru snakes, based as the chest cavity bellow the many heads. a difficult aqnd dangerous place to attack, but it will rapidly die. secondarily, if you can decaptitate all of its heads at once, it also dies. this can be simplified by impaling each of its brains.
hyrda are part of a series of artificial monsters. i also include manticores, ettins, orcs, and other abominations. however of those mentioned, hydra are the least evil, if existence than to create. they are beasts, nothing more. manticores are fully sapient beings that lust for the taste of sapient flesh. in my idea, it is some strange rule amongst immortals and magical beings that to eateth of sapient and man is tainted, lest the eater be a beast. if it is capable of reason, should not be eaten nor eat another. manticores are the worst of all cannibalistic entities, for the are capable of knowing better.
things get a bit confusing. for magical beings, even angels, have been recorded devouring certain body parts of sapient beings. very particular ones, mainly the heart. apparently less than an act of hypocrisy and more along the lines of devouring the energy of the heart, but unable to extract it another way.
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g3m1n1 [2012-03-31 00:09:35 +0000 UTC]
yay, i'll be having nightmares tonight.
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Nayzor [2012-03-30 23:22:08 +0000 UTC]
In the SSU we have many subraces of hydras. One we particularly like are the spectrohydras. With them each head is a color of the rainbow.
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Lordoffantasy [2012-03-30 20:07:42 +0000 UTC]
lower heads wouldn't neccessarily drown. they would jsut have to let the rest of the heads breathe for them.
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Level9Drow In reply to Lordoffantasy [2012-03-30 20:25:42 +0000 UTC]
Yea, LOL, I didn't think of that. BUUUT, it's stull lame. Let me get you the link to the original real"threatening" hydra.
[link]
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Just google Heracles and the Hydra and you will see all the classical art has a very small hydra. Some of these are kind of large-ish, but nothing a few Pretorians couldn't handle.
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Lordoffantasy In reply to Level9Drow [2012-03-30 20:36:05 +0000 UTC]
ironic, isn't it? back then their idea of horrifying were goofy looking monsters, and death and mutilation was a daily event.
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Lordoffantasy In reply to Lordoffantasy [2012-03-31 01:40:25 +0000 UTC]
....how would evolution lead it to this guy...... and where is its real mind then?
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