Evil Characters In Mythology

I recently wrote about my favorite mythological heroes to cover in my world literature high school classroom. Are you ready looking to dive in to a deep look at mythological heroes and their evil characters with your high school students? Check out this full unit here! I center this unit around what our heroes say about our culture and our values. However, the heroes are really only part of the equation. You must also ponder what the evil characters in mythology say about the culture as well.

Evil Characters in Ancient Greek Mythology

I always cover Perseus. Who doesn’t love his heroic journey? He showcases so many great things about the ancient Greek culture. However, his greatest trial, Medusa, also says a lot about ancient Greek culture.

I honestly feel so incredibly bad for Medusa. Her biggest crime in life was being born beautiful. Her beauty was so great that Poseidon couldn't help but.....rape her. In the temple of Athena. You would think that Athena (being the badass that she is) would have intervened on behalf of Medusa. 

Sadly, she knows she cannot stand up to Poseidon- that would be left up to Zeus. However, we know that Zeus also could not keep it in his pants....are we sensing a pattern here?

So, instead, she is turned into a hideous monster that no one can look at and tell the tale. Maybe in a way it was the only way that Athena could give poor Medusa some peace?

While the ancient Greeks gave the world so much, strong female figures was not really one of them.   

“In Western culture, strong women have historically been imagined as threats requiring male conquest and control. Medusa is the perfect symbol of this”. The Atlantic

Ancient Greek women had practically no political voice and were at the mercy of men every step of their life. As a child, a girl’s life would be dominated by their father who would in turn chose their husband.

“Custom dictated that a Greek woman limit her time outside the house to visiting with her nearest female neighbors. Exceptions to this rigid social convention were weddings, funerals and state religious festivals in which women were expected to play prominent public roles.” Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology

What does this say about the ancient Greek culture that beautiful women were met with rape and then turned into monsters? What does it say about the female deities that stood by and did nothing? Does this entire tale symbolize the helplessness of all ancient Greek women? Sadly, there are so many female villains in Greek mythology that this is just scratching the surface!

What does Grendel represent?

Another favorite hero is Beowulf! Beowulf is such an interesting hero to me as it was a Viking character from a Christian perspective. So, of course, his mythological evil character counterpart are all the horrible things Christianity can conjure up.

“The wicked creature, grim and greedy, was at the ready, savage and cruel, and seized in their rest thirty of the thanes.”

In the story, Grendel is said to be a direct descendant from Cain- the first son of Adam and Eve. However, Cain’s real claim to fame is being the first human murderer. He was so consumed with greed and jealousy over his brother Abel that he struck him in the head and killed him. With this lineage in mind, it’s easy to pinpoint that Grendel represents the Christian Anglo-Saxon culture felt about the sins of envy and jealousy. Since Beowulf is often espousing Christian ideals (despite being a Viking), his defeat over Grendel could be seen as a Christian victory over evil through the strength of God.

The monster wrenched and wrestled with him but Beowulf was mindful of his mighty strength, the wondrous gifts God had showered on him: he relied for help on the Lord of All, on His care and favor. So he overcame the foe, brought down the hell-brute. – Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)

To further this symbolism, you can also look at the direct characterization- Beowulf is young, strong, and handsome (just ask him!). Grendel is deformed and kills when people are feeling at their most safe. This could have been a lesson in the Devil coming for you when you let your guard down. Beowulf never lets his guard down.

What do Fafnir and Regin represent?

Poor Sigurd. I always feel so bad for him. He does all the right things and still does not end happily ever after. Maybe it’s what’s expected of the Viking culture though. Sigurd actually encounters several mythological evil characters. Unknowingly, the first one is actually his foster father- Regin.

Regin becomes the foster father of Sigurd once his father dies. Regin was the brother of Fafnir and Ótr. You are actually introduced to his family first in the story. Through some mishaps with Odin, Loki, and Thor;  Fafnir and Ótr become cursed. Fafnir’s greed of the great wealth they have suddenly come in to turns him into a dragon.

In western culture, dragons are greedy and horde gold and precious artifacts above all else. Regin wants the treasure his brother is hording and plans on using Sigurd to get it….and then kill him to keep it all for himself.

I guess he didn’t learn what happens when you are greedy!

He coaches Sigurd and treats him as a son until Sigurd is ready to face the dragon. He tells Sigurd to also roast and eat the heart of Fafnir. However, when he does, Sigurd can suddenly hear the birds around him and learns of Regin’s plot to kill him for the treasure.

Sigurd slays Regin as well. So, both Fafnir and his brother Regin are killed because of their greed- a major taboo in Norse culture.

Both Regin and Fanir also broke several other aspects to the Viking honor system. Regin lacked the courage to face his brother Fafnir on his own or to be honest with Sigurd. Regin also betrayed his family- not only his blood family, but his foster son as well.

“Lying was something that the Vikings believed to be one of the worst infractions that a person could make. They believed that telling the truth in every situation was always the best course of action. Doing anything else was considered cowardly.” Fjord Tours

Fafnir also killed his father, Hreithmar, to obtain the vast amount of gold which Hreithmar had demanded of Odin as a compensation for the death of his son Ótr (who Loki had unknowingly killed for his pelt while he was in otter form).

But the cursed ring brought good luck to nobody. First Fafnir, the Dragon, killed
his own father, and then he went and wallowed on the gold, and would let his brother
265 have none, and no man dared go near it.

“But the cursed ring brought good luck to nobody. First Fafnir, the Dragon, killed
his own father, and then he went and wallowed on the gold, and would let his brother
have none, and no man dared go near it.”

These examples are merely scratching the surface of what you can talk about with mythological villains. While the heroes tend to show of the best of our cultures, the villains show us what happens to those who do not follow the customs of the culture. They are meant to be cautionary tales.

Are you ready to dive in deep with these kinds of conversations with your high school students? Check out this full unit here!