The Minotaur is a mythical creature who appears in the 1997 Disney animated feature film Hercules and its television series. He is a large humanoid bull who resided in and endless maze within the city of Knossos, the capital of Crete.
Appearances[]
Hercules[]
In the film, Hades sends him, the Griffin, and Stheno to gang up on Hercules, but all three of them were defeated by a punch each from Hercules in less than a few seconds. The Minotaur was at the bottom of the pile when they landed, followed by the Griffin, then Stheno.
Hercules (video game)[]
In the Hercules video game, the Minotaur serves as somewhat of a mini-boss of the level The Big Olive. He stands at the top of a flight of stairs and throws objects down at Hercules. Hercules must find other objects in the area to throw back at him.
Disney's Arcade Frenzy[]
The Minotaur is among the guardian enemies in the Flying Frenzy game along with Stheno and Nessus. They walk around on the bottom and platform clouds and can be defeated from above or the sides.
Hercules (TV series)[]
In the animated series, Hercules encounters another Minotaur in "Hercules and the Minotaur" and "Hercules and the Grim Avenger". In these appearances, the Minotaur is depicted as a sophisticated yet easily frustrated monster. He comes from Crete and enjoyed causing mayhem and destruction on the island. When Crete's King Minos finally captured him, he requested Daedalus and Icarus to build a large maze to keep the Minotaur imprisoned. However, the insane king only wanted to use the maze for entertainment by throwing innocent people into the maze so they could be hunted by the Minotaur.
Several Minotaurs training dummies that were brought to life appeared alongside a Dragon and a Griffin in the episode "Hercules and the Arabian Night".
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- In the original storyboard for the song, "Zero to Hero", the Minotaur does fight Hercules in the same way he does in the film, but instead of the Griffin and Stheno (who in the original storyboard was fought instead of Cetus), a huge green fish with a unicorn horn and a giant lobster helped the Minotaur fight Hercules.
- In the original myth, the Minotaur was the stepson of King Minos, but in the animated series, there is no mention of the two being related.
- In the film, the Minotaur had red eyes, white straight horns, and lacked clothing and facial hair, and in the episode "Hercules and the Parents Weekend", he had purple skin as an infant (although this may be due to a lack of fur).
- According to the episode "Hercules and the Grim Avenger", the Minotaur was locked away in the Labyrinth because he got clumsy in a china shop. This is a reference to the phrase "a bull in a china shop".
