Make a mythological dream team

[Q99]

You are called to form a Justice League/Avengers-esque team out of heroes of mythology!


Rules-
5-to-7 heroes
Only one hero from each mythology
No full gods
Pick who the team leader is
Personality compatibility comes into play (like, Hercules may seem like a gimmie, but he's very proud and has had trouble with teams before [the Argonauts], so you may prefer someone else from Greek myth instead. If you use Greek myth!)



Bonus round-
Make a similar team of villains and other less-heroic figures


Who's your team?


My example team:

Maui (Polynesian)- He's tricky, he's strong, he's helpful. Can trick his friends to make things easier for himself at times, but hey, he tried to get us all immortality, I like that in a hero.

Queen Marya Morevna (Slavic)- She's from the story 'the death of Koschei the Deathless'. In it, the character of Ivan found a dead army, all beaten by her. He marries her and then discovers she has Koschei the Deathless locked in her basement. As one does. Anyway, I want her on my team.

Perseus- Another clever hero, and unlike most Greek heroes, a pretty easy one to get along with.

Scáthach (Gaelic)- A teacher first, most famously of Cú Chulainn and the original owner of Gáe Bulg. It's good to have a teacher, and again, fewer personality conflicts than

Sun Wukong (Chinese)- And I'll round things out with the sage equal to heaven.

A mix of tricksters and straight-up badasses should be able to handle just about anything.


(Honorable mention- Gawain, my favorite Knight of the Round, but I don't think a Knight would fit in with this batch ^^)

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. I don't know, Arthurian knights could fit in pretty well. Their biggest problem was that their honor would lead them to seek out fair fights, but they were good at fair fights. A lot of them dealt successfully (either in the sense of 'interact' or in the sense of 'defeat') enchanters and magicians, too, which required a fair amount of resourcefulness and outside-the-box thinking.

[Q99]

Oh, they could work well with *many* teams. Just, Maui and Sun Wukong? That'd result in a lot of internal clashing

[The Romulan Republic]

Ugg, so many mythological heroes are utter assholes.

Oh well.

Question- where do we draw the line between legend/folk hero, and myth? Would Robin Hood count as a myth? Would King Arthur?

[Simon_Jester]

I'd suggest two guidelines:

1) Myth tends to include magic. Arthurian legend is (HIgh Middle Age Western European) mythology, because there is explicit magic- dozens of sorcerors and enchantresses, Merlin, multiple magic swords, curses, blessings the Grail. Robin Hood doesn't have the magic, and isn't a myth.

2) Myths are things that were accepted as reality at some time, even if today we think they are fictional. A fair lot of Englishmen of 1600 or so actually believed in King Arthur. Nobody ever seriously believed that Frodo Baggins existed.

Note that Frodo Baggins fits rule (1), and Robin Hood fits (2)... but King Arthur fits both. Most things we'd actually want to exclude from an explicitly mythological dream team fail one or both rules. So I think, for our purposes, we should go with:

"A mythological character is one who exists in a milieu that involves overt magic or divinity, and whose existence was accepted as historical fact by the traditions of a corresponding local culture."

[Civil War Man]

The "no full gods" rule is not as easy quantified as it seems, because some mythologies don't really make that distinction, or they change depending on who's doing the telling. The loa, for example, might be considered gods for all intents and purposes in some stories, but "merely" powerful spirits in others. Even Heracles eventually becomes a full god in some versions of his stories.

[Q99]

Ugg, so many mythological heroes are utter assholes.

Oh well.

Question- where do we draw the line between legend/folk hero, and myth? Would Robin Hood count as a myth? Would King Arthur?

I'm not gonna be strict on line-drawing. Robin Hood? In. Arthur? In.

The "no full gods" rule is not as easy quantified as it seems, because some mythologies don't really make that distinction, or they change depending on who's doing the telling. The loa, for example, might be considered gods for all intents and purposes in some stories, but "merely" powerful spirits in others. Even Heracles eventually becomes a full god in some versions of his stories.

True. Use your judgement on ones that don't draw the lines- I was thinking mostly of human/part human characters, but again, not gonna be strict on line drawing.

With Herc and such, it'd just be his not-full-god version.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah, but the Greco-Roman religion had a LOT of deified heroes, so it's not simple.

Also, I was trying to come up with something that would exclude modern-day fictional characters as 'not mythological,' so that Circe is allowed but Stephen Strange isn't. Including explicitly non-magical folk heroes like Robin Hood isn't actually a problem- it's just that there's not much advantage in having a guy like Robin Hood when you have the legendary mythical archers of all history to choose from. He was good, but not THAT good.

[Q99]

Yeah, but the Greco-Roman religion had a LOT of deified heroes, so it's not simple.

Use the non-full-god version of any of them.

Also, I was trying to come up with something that would exclude modern-day fictional characters as 'not mythological,' so that Circe is allowed but Stephen Strange isn't.

Or we could just count on people not trying to rules-lawyers it. Go with the spirit of the op.

[The Romulan Republic]

I mentioned Robin mostly because I find his motivations and character interesting, not because he has an extraordinary power set. If I just wanted an archer, their are other picks, yes.

My knowledge of mythology is not as extensive as I would like, I admit, but if not explicitly magical figures like Robin Hood are allowed, then here is my tentative list:

Sir Lancelot. I feel he'll make an interesting anti-hero for the team, as well as something of a deconstruction of the classic knightly hero.

Robin Hood. The idealist of the team, and the more covert/sneaky one (along with Odysseus). I would maybe have him and Odysseus become trickster buddies.

Mulan. Partly to add some more diversity to the team, and partly because I just like what I know of her legend.

Odysseus. The team's schemer and strategist, along with Robin.

Gilgamesh. The oldest and perhaps wisest of the team, he might be the de facto leader.

[Civil War Man]

Here are my picks:

Karna (Hindu): Pretty much a superhero in his own right. Renowned for his generosity, honesty, and integrity. So hilariously overpowered that it took three separate curses acting on him simultaneously to even put him in a position where he could be killed. Most likely candidate for leader, considering that one of his accomplishments was conquering the entire world.

Fionn mac Cumhaill (Irish): Legendary warrior, often depicted as a giant. Leader of the Fianna, and imbued with supernatural wisdom after eating the Salmon of Knowledge. According to legend, he never died, and instead sleeps in a cave surrounded by the Fianna, destined to return in an hour of great need. Likely backup leader if Karna is busy.

Atalanta (Greek): One of the most skilled huntresses in Greek mythology. Abandoned to die as a baby, she was nursed by a bear and raised by hunters. Was the first to draw blood from the Calydonian Boar. Incredibly fast runner (the only race she lost was to her future husband, who only won because he cheated). Only woman to become an Argonaut.

Anansi (Ashanti): Trickster spirit. Made the Keeper of All Stories by the Sky-God Nyame. Known for overcoming obstacles through cleverness, intelligence, and trickery rather than brute force. Is also a giant spider, so he can make webs and such.

Väinämöinen (Finnish): Wizard and bard. Helped in the creation of the world. One of the inspirations for several of Tolkien's magical characters, including Gandalf and Tom Bombadil.

[The Romulan Republic]

Ooh, I like that selection.

[madd0ct0r]

I thought Anansi was a god?

[Lord Revan]

when it comes to certain religions the difference between a god and "natural spirit" isn't always obvious. Lets take Väinämöinen for example, some tales depict him as a powerful shaman (bare in mind that kalevala is an edited collection of folk stories) others depict him as a (pre-christian) minor god.

[Civil War Man]

I thought Anansi was a god?

He's a god in some depictions, but not others. Heck, he's not even a spider in some versions, which makes him about as much of a god as Tom Sawyer. I went with the large spider spirit version because that's more interesting, gives him a bit of a power boost by giving him all the various spider abilities, and would look better in a hypothetical League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-esque comic book series for it. Makes for a better story that way.

[Q99]

I mentioned Robin mostly because I find his motivations and character interesting, not because he has an extraordinary power set. If I just wanted an archer, their are other picks, yes.

It's not like there's points for making a more powerful team, seems like a fun team!

I find the idea of Lancelot being an 'anti-hero' to be funny- he was viewed as pretty much the ideal Knight in all ways but his critical flaw.

[The Romulan Republic]

Values dissonance.

And yeah, that critical flaw pretty much brought everything down.

I think it would be interesting to write Lancelot as a deconstruction of the "ideal knight". But maybe I'm completely off-base their.

[The Romulan Republic]

Thinking about character interactions/team dynamics.

Of course, this would somewhat vary depending on which version of the myths/legends one used, and how close it stayed to the source material.

For my team, I'm tentatively thinking:

Robin or Mulan as protagonist/POV character. They seem the two most likely to be easily relatable to a modern audience.

Odysseus would be Robin's fellow trickster and partner in a lot of schemes, but their'd probably be some friendly competition, with each trying to one-up the other with the cleverness of their plots and tricks.

Lancelot would be a friendly rival of sorts for Robin.

Gilgamesh would be the wise old team leader/mentor. He would rarely take the field, but when he does, you know a major ass-kicking is about to be laid out.

The story would take place in the present day, I think, because I'd like it to revolve around the idea of taking these people who are out of time and seeing how they relate to the modern world, what their perspective is on a world that has changed so much from the one that they knew.

Still trying to think of a big bad worthy of this team.

[Q99]

Values dissonance.

And yeah, that critical flaw pretty much brought everything down.

I think it would be interesting to write Lancelot as a deconstruction of the "ideal knight". But maybe I'm completely off-base their.

Fate/Stay did that, though personally I think one is getting a bit far from Lancelot if you're using him as a deconstruction.

[mr friendly guy]

I want to point out that while Sun Wukong isn't a god, at least how they're classified in Chinese stories, he has trounched them before. He is strictly speaking an immortal (not all immortals are gods, and immortality can be taught like sorcery in those stories, which essentially it what he does, learn some magic with the goal of being immortal at the end).

I do have a question. Can we use "villains" for this team. I mean Medusa with modern reinterpretation of the Greek myth would be less of villain, and mainly just a tragic character. I am sure I can find a use for her on my team.

[Q99]

I want to point out that while Sun Wukong isn't a god, at least how they're classified in Chinese stories, he has trounched them before. He is strictly speaking an immortal (not all immortals are gods, and immortality can be taught like sorcery in those stories, which essentially it what he does, learn some magic with the goal of being immortal at the end).

Yea, non-gods can get pretty full of powers and abilities.

I do have a question. Can we use "villains" for this team. I mean Medusa with modern reinterpretation of the Greek myth would be less of villain, and mainly just a tragic character. I am sure I can find a use for her on my team.

My inclination would be to separate them into a villains team, but really, sure, why not? If you think they'll fit with your hero mix, go for it.

[mr friendly guy]

The team I have in mind will tend to behave more like the Authority, but since the Authority is itself Avengerslite I think this is sort of ok. Granted the Authority kills but...

Merlin (Arthurian legends)
Team leader. This guy manipulated events such that Arthur was born, so I kind of want him as a leader. He will be like Captain America, but with skills at manipulation. And magic, can't forget the magic.

Sun Wukong
The muscle of the team. I going to have him just after Xuanzhang freed him, so he is still willing to kill humans, and not just demons. Because lets face it, its gross, its racist. I mean if you think about all these myths were these spirits and demons which can interbreed with humans, really they are just another ethnic group of humans. So only killing demons for crimes but leaving alive humans who commit worse crimes is racist.

This guy will be the Thor of the team.

I mean he can

1. lift up entire mountains and fly like Thor.
2. Grow to giant size like Giant Man.
3. Shrink down like Ant Man
4. create an entire army of super monkeys (ok imagine Iron man sending all his armours into battle)
5. shape shift like... ok, can't think of an Avenger that strictly shape shifts except perhaps Sersi's illusionary powers do it.
6. See through illusions
7. magic breath, which is a sort of deus ex machina
8. Magic spells, such as paralyze people, protection from fire, protection from water

And he is a fucking talking monkey who is goddamn immortal. When he dies from combat he resurrects.

Medusa
The surprise packet. Her costume as it were would have her face covered. She will fight with bow and arrow Hawkeye / Green Arrow style since various renditions of her in Clash of the Titans had her fight with projectile weapons. Her obvious secret is that she removes her face and then bad guys turn to stone. Isn't that killing them? I don't know, can Merlin turn them back. But anyone these guys behave like the Authority, so....

Merlin recruits her in return for trying to find a way to undo the curse of Athena.

Madam White snake
Various Chinese adaptations of this legend gives her the ability to change into a giant snake, superhuman strength, create matter out of thin air (at least small amounts like simple objects and food).

I will sort of have her like the Vision of my team, albeit without the computing skills.

The Genie from Aladdin

Come on. Deus ex machina for the win.

In universe, Merlin recruits the genie to help undo Medusa's curse.

*********************************************
Ok that's my five for now, but since I am allowed up to 7, I might add some in later.

[Q99]

The Genie from Aladdin

Come on. Deus ex machina for the win.

Myth versions of genies aren't so Deus Ex. I mean, they are *powerful*, but they're far more, "As a powerful being, I can accomplish many things if desired," rather than uber-flexible wishes.