Medusa: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"My garden's full of pretty men, who couldn't stay away..."''|'''Heather Dale''', |''Medusa''}}

In almost all versions, Medusa is fully humanoid and [[Always Female]]. In some versions, her hair-snakes are poisonous. In others, they are not literal snakes but rather hair that supernaturally behaves as if it were made of living snakes. When a version contain a male Medusa, it's usually some [[Distaff Counterpart|Spear Counterpart]] with some other name.

The most likely oldest story featuring Medusa is the adventures of Perseus. In this story she is merely a boss monster whom Perseus defeats by decapitating her (and later using her head to petrify enemies) without looking at her — he sticks to looking at her shadow or looking through a mirror, depending on the version.

One origin is that she and her fellow Gorgons was simply created/born that way. In this origin, the Gorgons are typically three sisters, the other two being Stheno and Euryale. The Greek word "gorgon" means "horror". Besides having serpents for hair, the Gorgons were described as having tusks, brazen claws, and wings; in a few very early depictions they are shown as quadrupeds, possibly because Pegasus was born out of Medusa's blood when she was beheaded by Perseus. Note that the Erinnyes (Furiae) were depicted very similarly as hideous snake-haired women.

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Medusa from ''[[Soul Eater (Manga)|Soul Eater]]'' is a witch with a pronounced snake theme (including having magical snakes stored in her body and a snake-like "vector arrow" attack). Even though she still looks "human" she still [[Animal Motifs|strongly resembles a snake]].

* ''[[Rosario to Vampire (Manga)|Rosario to+ Vampire]]'' has Hitomi Ishigami, a [[Mad Artist]] who turns unsuspecting people to stone for her private collection. Her snake hair bites people and the venom slowly petrifies them.

* ''[[The Far Side (Comic Strip)|The Far Side]]'' cartoon captioned "Medusa Starts Her Day" featuring one of his dowdy, bespectacled women showering, wearing a shower-cap through which a snake has poked its head.

* [[Marvel Universe]] used to feature a supervillain/superhero named [https://web.archive.org/web/20131105225021/http://marvel.wikia.com/Medusalith_Amaquelin_(Earth-616) Medusa]. Her superpower was [[Prehensile Hair|long hair that could be used as tentacles to grab people]]. She was in the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]] for a while. She was eventually [[Put Onon a Bus]] to go and live in space with her fellow [[The Inhumans|Inhumans]], and mostly appears in Marvel Cosmic books these days.

* ''[[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe (Animation)|He Man and The Masters of The Universe]]'' featured a male medusa-like character with snakes popping out of his eyes rather than hair. The main power, turning people to stone, was the same.

* In issue four of ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' which featured the Silver Age return of [[Captain America (comics)]], Cap encounters an alien who turned the other Avengers to stone with a special ray. The alien had been stranded on Earth for thousands of years living in a cave and Cap surmised that the alien's wild hair, made him look like a woman in the shadows and was the basis for the myth about Medusa. Cap got the alien to change the Avengers back and helped him leave Earth and return home. The alien would turn out to belong to the D'Bari, whose planet was later destroyed when the [[The Dark Phoenix Saga|Dark Phoenix]] caused their sun to go nova.

* ''[[Clash of the Titans (Film)|Clash of the Titans]]'' was a bit unusual in that its Medusa was not humanoid. Instead, she was a huge snake with a somewhat humanoid torso on it. The original even added a rattlesnake tail, [[Hell Is That Noise|so she didn't even appear on the screen to scare people]]. Both versions turn her into an [[Cold Sniper|expert archer]] - with added sociopathy in the remake, where she [[Giggling Villain|laughs]] as she either shoots or petrifies people. In the original film, Medusa was cursed by ''Aphrodite'', for being a willing sexual participant in her temple. Aphrodite then cursed her into her monstrous form out of jealousy. Additionally, in the original film, she was scaly and monstrous all over, while in the remake she was rather beautiful [[Game Face|except when she petrified people]].

* Medusa is one of the exhibits in ''[[Seven7 Faces of Dr. Lao]]'', played by Tony Randall. (The film is based on the novel ''[[The Circus of Doctor Lao]]''.)

* ''[[Percy Jackson and& Thethe Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' faces Medusa (or {{spoiler|Aunty Em, as she's called}}) as one of the monsters he battles in ''[[Percy Jackson and& Thethe Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' (both the film and the book). And she is played by [[Uma Thurman]] too.

* In Dante's ''[[The Divine Comedy (Literature)|Inferno]]'', Dante and his guide Virgil are initially barred from entering Lower Hell at the Gate of Dis in Circle Six. Those at the gate threaten to bring out Medusa to turn Dante to stone; Virgil, not trusting Dante to keep his own eyes closed, covers Dante's eyes with his own hands while they wait for divine aid to come to let them pass through.

* [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' book ''The Source of Magic'' has a Gorgon with snakes for hair. Any man who looks at her face is turned to stone. She is treated sympathetically since she does not want to do this and is forced to live alone; later she marries the Good Magician Humphrey after he fixes her problem by turning her face invisible.

* [[The Laundry Series]], given its [[Post-Modern Magik]] approach, has "gorgons" who are actually people who suffer a very rare form of brain tumor that serves as a conduit for an extra-dimensional particle-wave function that transforms carbon into silicon -- insilicon—in other words, a petrifying gaze. It also exists in snakes (basilisks) and chickens (cockatrices), and its effects can be mapped to a CCTV camera.

* A gorgon joins the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork in the [[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]''. She wears sunglasses to avoid turning people to stone when she shouldn't. (In an earlier book, Vimes is very pissed off about citizens interfering with his job by [[Fantastic Racism|demanding certain kinds of people not be let into the Watch]] and he says that at this point he'd hire a gorgon. [[Brick Joke|Guess what]].)

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* In ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]'' episode "Meddie," a version of Medusa, appears as a beautiful young woman at first, before her hideous true form is revealed.

* ''[[Robot Wars (TV series)|Robot Wars]]'' once had a robot called Medusa 2000; the design spec called for a flail at the back, to look rather like snake hair. Unfortunately, the weapon idea fell through, so all that was left was the name and the picture on the top of the robot, which never was shown clearly on TV.

* In ''[[Star Trek: the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek theThe Original Series]],'' there is a race known as the Medusans. Their appearance is a madness-inducing [[Brown Note]] for most humanoid races. They're not bad guys.

* One of the later ''[[Legends of the Hidden Temple]]'' rooms was Medusa's Lair, where contestants had to properly place snakes into Medusa's head.

* One development stage of jellyfish is named after Medusa.

* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' editions 3 and 3.5, Medusa is an [[Always Female]] species with a humanoid body but serpent skin. See page illustration. Petrifying Gaze attack as well as poison bites from the hair snakes come with the package. It is mentioned that Medusas can procreate with any humanoid species, the offspring normally becomes Medusas. There is no official cure for the petrification, but advanced magic can do the job.

** In ''Savage Species'' sourcebook, several intelligent monsters including Medusas were made into playable classes: If you wanted to play a Medusa under the standard rules you had to start at level 10 or higher, but with Savage Species you could start as a level 1 immature Medusa who had not yet developed her full potential.

** In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]''the fourth edition, Medusas are a species in the usual sense, with both males and females. The female are the classic medusa, pretty much the same as in the previous edition except that she can now un-petrify her victims by applying a drop of her own blood. The males have different powers. Having male medusas with different powers have existed in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' before, but this is the first time the concept made it into a core book.

* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic (Video Game)|Heroes of Might and Magic]] III'' and ''IV'' had Medusas as minions of the Dungeon faction.

* ''[[Fate/stay Stay Night (Visual Novel)night|Fate Stay Night]]'' features the actual Medusa (or, more precisely, her Heroic Spirit, i.e. superpowered ghost) as the Servant {{spoiler|Rider}}. While her eyes still turn people into stone, her "snake hair" is explained to be a negative exaggeration of her [[Rapunzel Hair|really long and luxurious hair]].

* Medusa appears as a lower-level boss in ''[[Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|Final Fantasy III]]''.

** She is also a mid-level boss in ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]''.

* Regular enemies in ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]''.

* In ''[[Castle Crashers (Video Game)|Castle Crashers]]'', Medusa appears as a level boss. Snakes jump from her hair and attack the player, and she has an attack that can turn players to stone. {{spoiler|When she's defeated, Medusa herself is turned to stone.}}

* ''[[Rings of Medusa (Video Game)|Rings of Medusa]]'' does not feature any character with any traits of the mythological Medusa. While "Medusa" is the main villain, she never comes into play herself, and she doesn't have any traits beyond being evil, in a strictly [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]] sense of the word.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' games with medusas as monsters include ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'', ''Gateway to the Savage Frontier'', ''Pool of Radiance'', ''Pools of Darkness'', ''[[Neverwinter Nights (Video Game)|Neverwinter Nights]]'', and ''Secret of the Silver Blades''

* The ''[[Adventures of Lolo (Video Game)|Adventures of Lolo]]'' games have a bust of Medusa as an enemy. It paralyzes and kills Lolo if he steps into its line of sight. The only way to get past the busts is to block their line of sight with an egg or Emerald Framer.

* Medusa is the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Kid Icarus (Video Game)|Kid Icarus]]'' and ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising (Video Game)|Kid Icarus Uprising]]''.

* Medusa is the boss form of the Gorgon enemy in ''[[Desktop Dungeons (Video Game)|Desktop Dungeons]]''.

{{quote| '''Melissa:''' I can't even practice my hobbies in peace! I spend two months carving a dog statue, and PETA is all over me.}}

* One of the current plot arcs in ''[[Irregular Webcomic (Webcomic)|Irregular Webcomic]]'' concerns Medusa.

* ''[[The Wotch (Webcomic)|The Wotch]]'' has Scott, who perennially is petrified (and transgendered). On one occasion, this happened when his girlfriend was temporarily changed into a Medusa and looked at him, after ''he'd'' been turned into a female elf. They both got better.

* One of the ''[[Oglaf (Webcomic)|Oglaf]]'' strips featured a man who survived a Medusa encounter by being distracted her breasts. In the end it is implied that he got more than a [[Raging Stiffie]]...

* Turns [[The Non -Adventures of Wonderella (Webcomic)|Wonderella]] to stone in one strip -- butstrip—but she's a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] at worst, can be nullified by the simple expedient of wearing sunglasses, and quite apologetically explains that the power to turn people into stone isn't under her control.

* Played with in ''[[The Powerpuff Girls (Animation)|The Powerpuff Girls]]''. The show had Sedusa - a character with tentacle-like hair (wasn't snakes but definitely had a life of its own) whose specialty was to, yes, seduce men.

* ''[[Celebrity Deathmatch (Animation)|Celebrity Deathmatch]]'' has Steve Irwin fighting against a Medusa. The fight ends with a [[Shout-Out]] to the ending of the original ''[[Clash of the Titans (Film)|Clash of the Titans]]''.

* The episode of ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents (Animation)|The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' where Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda visit ancient Greece and go to a party at Mt. Olympus features Medusa as a party-crasher.

* In ''[[Hercules (Disney1997 film)||Hercules]]'', Medusa was [[The Woobie]], who makes a [[Deal Withwith the Devil|deal with Hades]] to make herself look like a regular girl.

* Medusa appears in ''[[Justice League (Animationanimation)|Justice League Unlimited]]'' thanks to [[Wonder Woman]] connecting the Greek pantheon to this show. [[Batman]] and [[Zatanna]] have to be blindfolded in order to meet her - and she sounds like she was raised in New York.

* All three gorgons appear in ''[[American Dragon Jake Long (Animation)|American Dragon: Jake Long]]''. Aside from their snake hair, they generally look human, and are both good-looking and vain. In addition to their petrifying gaze (which they must intentionally activate), they're also adept at mind control.