Death's Head Hawk Moth

Have four words ever met that made more sense to be together than these four? I think I've gone and discovered the most amazingly named animal in the entire living universe. The Death's Head Hawk Moth. HAWK MOTH! Holy fuck, look at this guy.

The actual species names for these moths are Atropos & Styx. If you're any sort of Greek Mythology wizard, you'll know that Atropos is the member of the three "Fates"... They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. Atropos is he one who cuts the thread of life. Boom. Styx is the name of the famed "River of the Dead". Boom.

What a fucking morbid moth! Best moth ever.

Pandora's Box

Check out this wicked box, dude.


Wicked, man. I love the concept of Pandora's Box. And using it as a metaphor for something in real-life, is really fun, too. "Man, you've opened Pandora's Box now" - especially if all that's happening is an argument about paying the rent, or something. Anyways, here's the mythology surrounding Pandora's Box:

After Prometheus took fire from the sun, Zeus sought reprisal by handing Pandora (the first woman on Earth) to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. At the same time, Pandora was given a box that she was ordered not to open under any circumstances. Despite this warning, overcome by curiosity Pandora opened the box. Upon doing so, the evils contained within escaped into the world.

All the best stories begin with "After Prometheus took fire from the sun...".

That sucks though, I wish those evils had never escaped into the world.

Total Badasses: Kratos

Okay, this has been a long time coming. Videogames have long been known as a medium populated by huge beefy guys killing other guys, right? Right! And Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War games, is arguably the most awesome and epic.

I'll try to keep backstory brief. Kratos was a general in the Greek army who was betrayed (initially by Ares, the God of War) and forced to kill his own family. Ever since then, Kratos just wants to kill every single God and Greek myth. That's it. That's the story. Obviously other stuff happens as well, but thats the gist. Its basically the most epic tale of revenge ever told. And it goes all the way up to Zeus. Yes, that's right, he wants to kill the fucken "God of Gods".

What Kratos lacks in character depth (he's got one facial expression: scowl), he makes up for in deeds. This guy does some freakin' epic stuff that really defines what "awesome" would look like in the mind of a 12-year old boy. Kratos disembowels minotaurs, plucks out cyclopses' eyes, and stabs satyrs, but thats just the beginning.

Some Kratos highlights (minor spoilers, but if you didn't figure it out already, Kratos kills FUCKEN EVERYBODY):

-Killing the Colossus of fucken Rhodes
-Killing the fucken Hydra
-Killing Hades, God of the fucken Underworld
-Killing fucken Hercules
-Killing fucken Poseidon, God of the Sea
-Killing Helios, God of the fucken Sun
-Killing the Sisters of fucken Fate
-Killing Gaia, Titan of the fucken Earth
-Killing Cronos, Titan of Time
-Killing Ares, God of fucken War

Now with God of War 3 in the bag, the developers have stated that they have wrapped up "Kratos' story arc", whatever that means. I'm sure there will be more God of War games, but I'm wondering if they will feature a different hero or not. I'm hoping Kratos gets to return, but in an altogether different mythology.

Just imagine. God of War 4. Kratos gets betrayed by God. Must battle through hordes of Saints. And Jesus. It would be amazing.

For more total badasses, click here.

King Minos

In ancient Greek mythology, King Minos was a ruler of Crete, and also a demigod, the son of Zeus and Europa. After his death, Minos was said to become the Judge of the dead in Hades -- he would decide which of the circles of Hell all sinners would be cast into.

Minos is also one of the bosses in the new game, "Dante's Inferno", which brings me to the real point of this post -- Minos gives one of the most purely badass quotes from any boss in game history:

"Who comes into my House of Pain...?"