Myth Warriors
Shu Manwill
Mythic Warriors (also known as Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend) is a 1998-2000 anthology animated television series,[1] which featured retellings of popular Greek myths that were altered so as to be appropriate for younger audiences, produced by Nelvana and Marathon Media.[2] Two seasons of episodes were produced in February 8, 1998 and March 14, 1999;[3] then aired as reruns until May 21, 2000, when CBS' abolition of its Nelvana-produced children's programming in favor of Nick Jr. and later, Nickelodeon content resulted in its cancellation. The series was based on the book series Myth Men Guardians of the Legend written in 1996 and 1997 by Laura Geringer and illustrated by Peter Bollinger.[4]
The series was a fixture of CBS' Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. Scottish Television screened the series as part of its children programme Inside Out. The show was repeat in 2009 on wknd@stv, which is a children's television strand on Scottish television channel, then on Saturday mornings on STV during 2010. The series has been translated into Scottish Gaelic and is broadcast on BBC Alba since 2010.
Myth Men Guardians of the Legend is a book series written in 1996 and 1997 by Laura Geringer and illustrated by Peter Bollinger.[4] It is a comic series targeted at children age 4-8 and published by Scholastic Books, Inc.[5] It received the Children's Choice award.[6]
The series includes both male and female mythical heroes, including Perseus,[7] Heracles,[8] Odysseus, Theseus, Andromeda and Atalanta. The books retell the actual myths and legends with added fantasy elements.
Instead of classic attire resembling that of human nobility often employed during Hellenic times, the Olympians were instead depicted as wearing brightly colored clothing more typical of a warrior's formal attire, the exceptions being Hera, Demeter, and Hephaestus.
Between the first and second seasons, the depictions of several gods changed. Hades' attire was slightly altered. Persephone aged from a teenage-looking young girl to a grown goddess. The most significant changes, however, were to Aphrodite and Athena; the former shifted from a giggling pencil-thin schoolgirl-like teenager, to a conniving fully mature armor-clad lust goddess, with an entirely different voice and manner of speech as well. Athena was altered from a blonde in monotonous silver armor; to a brunette cloaked in blood-red dual-split dress with matching cape, plus golden shin guards and arm-bands in addition. Despite the complete change in depiction, her voice did remain the same.
This is a wiki from a role-play, called Warriors Of Myth. It is featured on the Superpower List Forum in the RP section. It is a work-in-progress, but when it is done, the story will feature many creatures, races and beings from mythology and folklore. However, this wiki will feature various species from myth, legend and folklore, regardless of whether or not they make an appearance in the roleplay.
It is intended to be a database of sorts, dedicated to keeping information about species and races from all around the world, regardless of racial or cultural origins; any that we come across, we will try to feature here!
Gilgamesh, Achillies, Alexander the Great, Yueh Fei, Henry V, King Ashoka, Julius Ceaser, William Wallace, the Samurai, the Navy Seals, Captain America, Solid Snake, and Master Chief. Every culture and every era has had their warrior-king stories to inspire young men. Battles are celebrated, killing and dying in war is glorified by the warrior myth that venerates male strength, courage, and brutality. The brotherhood of men who fight in wars is sanctified in warrior myths. Hatred of the enemy might not be enough to make healthy young men run towards violent death, so the shame of being labelled a coward who would leave his brothers to die had to become a fear even stronger than death.
The mythical warrior is both physically and emotionally powerful. He vanquishes honourable foes and dishonourable villains with equal ardour. He is justice without mercy, vengeance without consequence, and authority beyond questioning. He is revered by men, desired by women, and respected by all. He is powerful but unaccountable. In control but never responsible. He will suffer pain, even death, for his chosen bride but she is his prize not his equal and his first allegiance is always to the battlefield and the brotherhood of soldiers. He is everything we still tell young men to exalt as the best qualities of manhood and he is, in real life, the building blocks of a violent and controlling man.
The warrior myth served its purpose for thousands of years. Men and boys volunteered for pointless causes and great wars with equal fervour. They died and killed for their tribes, states, and countries and we told them this was how they achieved greatness.
Over the last 200 years, and particularly in the last 70 years, much of the world has learned to aspire to a more and better choices for their young men. Wealth and education gave all of us so many more options for our sons than warrior or farmer. Now they can be accountants and lawyers and plumbers and nurses and artists. We want them to be caring friends, good fathers, and loving husbands because we believe this will bring them happiness. We want them to find pride and self-worth in manhood without basing it in violence and control. Even if our boys do become soldiers, we expect our military leaders to have the technology, diplomacy, and smarts that prevent battlefield deaths, not glorify them.
Without those heroes, is it any wonder the likes of Andrew Tate have such reach and power over boys and young men? Tate fills the yawning identity gap and tells boys that the warrior ideal can still give them self-worth and the respect of others.
When we talk about needing men to step up, this is where they can have the most value. Step up, step out, show boys a manhood of self-respect, pride, creativity, even leadership without violence and control. Be the man of strength and power who heals and nurtures, the man who thinks and creates and invents. Find other men who do these things, share their photos and stories and tell your sons why you admire them.
Women have worked hard to create aspirational role models that exist outside the wife/mother role. We seek out women who succeed in sport, music, arts, business, and politics and share their achievements. Almost anywhere a woman is doing something amazing, another woman will be standing in front of her taking photos or videos to give other women hope and inspiration. Serena Williams, Hilary Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Elise Perry, Cathy Freedman, Jacinda Ardern, Malala Yousafzai, Melissa Lucashenko, Michelle Obama, Madonna, Indra Nooyi, Taylor Swift, Angela Merkel, Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Sandberg, and Beyonc are all visibly in the world, demonstrating all the options available to women and girls, not just of what they can do, but of who they can be. Sometimes those women paid a high price for their visibility, but even that proved to the young girls crowding up behind them that obstacles can be overcome.
The warrior myth and the wounded blank space that is its only alternative hurts all of us and this is a problem only men can solve for themselves, each other, and the boys who look to them for inspiration.
Deanne Carson and I are writing a book about school based education programs to prevent men\u2019s violence against women and children (published next year by Allen & Unwin). The standard writer\u2019s fuel of caffeine and self-loathing has got us almost to the end of the first draft, but nothing seems to be working to find a title that we both like, so I can\u2019t tell you what it\u2019s called yet. The book covers the obvious topics like consent and respectful relationships education, and the equally important but much less talked about body safety programs that aim to prevent child sexual abuse. There\u2019s a lot of practical stuff about what happens in those classes and the reactions we get from students, parents, and teachers, but we\u2019re also digging deeper into why these programs are so necessary and what we\u2019re up against when we\u2019re trying to unpick all the strands of life that make men violent and women vulnerable.
I\u2019m going to write a standard NotAllMen disclaimer I can link to in these pieces because it\u2019s a waste of time for writers and readers to go through it in each piece, but until I have time to do that: of course not all men are violent, this is demonstrably true. But it is equally true that most violence \u2013 against people of all genders \u2013 is committed by men. This is true across all racial, cultural, age, faith, sexuality, and class divides. What we don\u2019t really know is why.
I don\u2019t believe the answer is as simple as gender inequality, that seems more like a symptom than a cause. But if violence was biological, it would be all men and it isn\u2019t, so there must be something else at play. I wish I could tell you that I know the answer and that it\u2019s easy and makes the solution simple. I can\u2019t.
One constant theme though, across all cultures and times, is storytelling and the myths we weave into our understanding of who we are and who we are supposed to be. We humans are atavistically designed to respond to stories. They\u2019re woven into the DNA of our evolution. For 300,000 years we\u2019ve learned by listening to stories about hunting, collaboration, childbirth, leadership, grief, love, surviving winters, and fighting battles. Stories were how we learned to build on knowledge accumulated by previous generations rather than having to work out how to hunt each mammoth, build each house, or raise each child as if it had never happened before.
Writing as a tool for sharing stories has been around for about 5,000 years but it\u2019s only in the last couple of hundred years that we\u2019ve had widespread sharing of knowledge through the written word. Barely an eyeblink in the grand human scheme.
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