Hercules

Hercules
(ヘラクレス, Herakuresu?)
Sprites
Biographical information
Homeworld	Olympus
Residence	Olympus Coliseum
Family	Zeus (father) Hades (uncle) Megara (girlfriend)
Physical description
Species	God
Gender	Male
Behind the scenes
Origin	Hercules
English VA	Sean Astin (KH) Tate Donovan (KH2, Re:coded, KH3) Josh Keaton (young)
Japanese VA	Yasunori Matsumoto Masakazu Suzuki (young)

Hercules is one of the primary characters featured in the Kingdom Hearts series. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, living in the Olympus Coliseum. Hercules possesses great strength and can battle the toughest of monsters. He is very supportive of Sora's goal to become a true hero.

Personality

Hercules is shown to be tough, yet caring, willing to withstand hours of intense training at the hands of his mentor, Phil. He has a genuine love for Megara, and is willing to sacrifice even his own life for her. He is not without fault, however, as insults from Hades and a series of tough matches, including a loss to the Hydra, cause the hero to doubt his worth. It is when his friends' lives are most in danger that Hercules realizes he is not worthless, and that, in his words, "A true hero is measured by the strength of his heart."

Physical Appearance

Extremely muscular, with broad shoulders and a comparatively thin waist, Hercules is always seen wearing orange-brown armor that ends in a sort of metal skirt. His armor does not extend to his arms, nor to most of his legs. He wears a brown belt around his waist with a gold emblem with the symbol of Zeus printed on it. Hercules's sandals are knee-high and have cross-shaped straps and are brown, as are two wristbands he also wears. He has a reddish-brown headband tied around his forehead, pushing back his rust-colored hair, save for one bang that falls over it. The only aspects of Hercules's appearance not colored in earth tones are his sky blue eyes and short, deep blue cape. He is occasionally seen with a simple sword with a brown handle and yellow cross-guard, but apparently prefers to fight barehanded.

In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a much younger Hercules is seen prior to becoming a hero. His appearance is like in Hercules The Animated Series. At this point in his life, Hercules was rather scrawny and far from muscular. His sandals were not knee-high like his current self's, and he wore a plain white toga that left most of his legs, his arms, and the right side of his chest exposed. There was a metal pendant engraved with Zeus's symbol that was attached to the strap on his left shoulder. His headband and wristbands were also absent. His hair was a bit longer as well, being just about shoulder-length and seemed to be a brighter shade of orange than it is now.

Story

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Hercules in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

Young Hercules trains to become a hero alongside Zack, hoping to restore his godhood and return to Mt. Olympus by proving himself a true hero. After seeing Terra fight, he wishes to become like Terra.

He meets Ventus and after he, Ven, and Zack fight and defeat the Unversed, Hercules suggests to Ven that he should train under Phil to become a hero. During the final match with Zack, the Unversed attack the city and Ven runs off to defeat them. Herc instantly gives up the fight to aid Ventus. After the battle, a hidden Unversed attempts to attack Herc from behind, but is destroyed by Zack. Phil then comes forth and declares to coach Hercules for being fast enough to make a helpful decision. In truth, Phil never planned on giving up Hercules.

He also meets Aqua, appearing after Zack attempted to ask Aqua out. He points out how Aqua's "face is all red", and also gets advice from Aqua to not always rely on his strength, and she also tells him that she believes he will become a true hero someday.

In the ending credits, Hercules is seen training under Phil with Zack watching by the gate before something takes him away.

Kingdom Hearts

Hercules is not seen in Olympus Coliseum until he saves Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Cloud Strife from Cerberus. Sora, Donald, and Goofy run back to battle Cerberus so Hercules can escape with an unconscious Cloud. Upon the defeat of Cerberus, Hercules is impressed with the trio but encourages them to continue training when Phil grants them "Junior Heroes".

When they leave, Hercules reveals to Phil that he had already worn out Cerberus by the time Sora and company came to fight him. Hercules later battles Sora in a one-on-one battle in the Hercules Cup. When Sora wins and gains the Hercules Cup, as well as the ability to access the Yellow Trinity Mark, he comments that his heart's strength comes from his friends, and Hercules supports him in it. He also exclaims that he "wasn't even holding back."

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Hercules's storyline for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is basically the same as Kingdom Hearts. You meet him where Phil is about to cancel the games because no one else got past his preliminary course. Sora convinces them to keep the games because Sora wants to fight Hercules. Hercules agrees and Cloud shows up to add another contender to the games. During the games, Cloud wants to eliminate Hercules so he can have his lost memories restored.

At the end of the course, Cloud and Hercules are fighting to the death and Hades intervenes, determined to kill Hercules himself, as Cloud could not finish him off. Sora then defends Hercules from Hades. After Hades is beaten, Hercules would like to fight Sora, but is not in his top fighting form and promises Sora a fight when he is.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Hercules makes a small appearance in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He was out looking for possible new heroes for the Coliseum and was said to have sent someone to start training with Phil. Phil mistook Roxas as this person and started training him.

Hercules is shown training in a couple of scenes and another one where he walks by Roxas to talk to Phil. Phil then tells Hercules how well Roxas is doing and Hercules says that his person he found couldn't even be here since it will take him awhile to get to the Coliseum.

Kingdom Hearts II

First Visit

Hercules spends most of his days in the Coliseum battling Hades's monsters, including the Rock Titan and the Hydra. He gets rather tired but hides his exhaustion from Megara and his friends; the fatigued is obvious as when he tries to flex, his muscles barely move.

Hearing that Sora, Donald and Goofy tried to fight Hades, but were held back by the Underworld's curse, Hercules went to get the Olympus Stone from Mount Olympus. However, he learns that a man in a black coat (Demyx), assisted by creatures in white (Nobodies), had stolen the stone and fled to the Underworld. Returning to the Coliseum, Hercules is greeted by Hades, who informs him that he captured Meg and has her imprisoned in the Underworld.

However, Hercules has match against "the blood-thirsty Hydra" and "accidents" might happen if he isn't around to kill it. Sora and the others offer to find her so that he can deal with the Hydra at hand. After he "kills" the monster, he runs into the Underworld to join the others in saving Meg from Pete and the Heartless.

Upon the rescue, Hercules is given a taunt from Hades, telling him things are "falling apart" above ground. Upon reaching the Coliseum Gates, Hercules is shocked to see the Hydra was playing dead and had destroyed the Vestibule/ entrance. Saddened beyond belief, Herc loses his glow and watches as Sora and co slay the beast for him. Just when Sora is about to return the stone to him (having retrieved it from a battle with Demyx), it lights up and opens a portal to a new world.

Second Visit

Upon Sora's second visit to the destroyed Coliseum, Hercules is still depressed. Hades forces Hercules to join in the tournaments in the Underdrome and uses Megara as threat. Before the finals, Sora and the others encounter their friend Auron, who was being brainwashed at the time. In order to buy them time, Hercules offers to fight Auron one-on-one—to the death.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy stop the fight just as Hercules is about to run out of endurance and help Auron regain his will. Angered by the outcome, Hades throws Megara into the Styx and Hercules jumps in after her and so regains his strength by reminding himself that a true hero's strength comes from his heart. With the revived Hercules on their side, the group defeats Hades, and witnesses the creation of a new constellation shaped like Sora, Donald, and Goofy, making the trio true heroes at long last.

Sometime after Xemnas's defeat, Hercules has successfully rebuilt the Coliseum with the help of his friends.

Kingdom Hearts coded

In coded, Data-Hercules makes his first appearance as one of Data-Sora's party members. He teams up with Sora to help him find Hades, as well as destroy the Heartless and Bug Blox in the way. Like in Kingdom Hearts, he has been seen battling Cloud, who ironically also joins Sora as a party member. Data-Hercules fights Cerberus alongside Sora and Cloud. After defeating Cerberus, he fights Hades again. After that is over, Data-Hercules will take bundles of scraps for you and trade them for synthesis items. You can give him bundles of 39, 49, or 60 scraps.

Kingdom Hearts III

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Abilities

Main article: Hercules/Gameplay

When fought in the various Coliseum tournaments in the first Kingdom Hearts, Hercules is invincible and protected by a golden aura - Sora must pick up and throw barrels at him to make him vulnerable for a short time. The best time to throw a barrel at Hercules is when he's taunting by saying "Hey! You give up yet?" and flexes his muscles. You can tell he is going to taunt when he slowly side steps across the field first. Hercules attacks with various punches and also slams the ground, unleashing a shockwave. He also has other attacks that include delivering a bullet punch, spinning around the field with his sword out, a charging headbutt and even unleashing an energy explosion around him.

When fought in the Titan and Paradox Titan cups in the Underdrome during Kingdom Hearts II, Hercules uses powerful punches and headbutts, and can jump and unleash a shockwave when he lands. He can also summon a gold aura, turning himself invincible, inspired by the end of his Disney movie.

For two fights with Hades, Hercules assists Sora as an ally. He uses his punch attacks, and has two special commands: Aura Guard, which summons a barrier around him to protect Sora, and Aura Sphere, which summons two orbs of energy that, when hit into Hades, extinguish his fire and render him vulnerable to physical and magical attacks.

In Kingdom Hearts coded, while fighting, he has a move called Zero to Hero, in which he first approaches the enemy, enclosed in a shining ball of light, and quickly, he shoots forward at the opponent, in a streak of light.

Origin

A demigod and son of the sky god Zeus, Hercules is known as "Heracles" (Ηρακλής) in ancient Greek mythology. He still possesses his great strength, seen in the Disney adaption of the "character," yet several plots seen in this version of Hercules do not remain present in the realm of myths. One similarity is that both are considered a hero in their own right, battling a series of monsters. Mythology has a much more diverse love life, no rivalry with Hades or affiliation with Phil, and no goal to regain his "god" status. Myth also depicts the hero as a man wielding a club rather than a sword, carrying a lion's pelt as his only source of clothing.

In the Disney film by the same name as this hero, Hercules was kidnapped as an infant from his home on Mount Olympus and turned mortal by Pain and Panic. Growing up a strong, teased and misunderstood teenager with mortal adopted parents, Herc left home to seek out his true identity. A conversation with his father Zeus told him to seek out Philoctetes, trainer of heroes, and learn to be a "true hero" so he could reclaim godship. Hercules arose to fame, and eventually found love in Megara. It was a love for this woman that allowed Hercules to become a "true hero" when he risked his life for hers.

Gallery

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