In a recent TikTok trend started by comedian Alex Falcone, app users have been sharing facts that movies and TV shows get completely wrong ― but which nobody else seems to know about.
Once such response came from @bennh58, who exasperatedly said, “His name is Heracles!”
“In like every piece of media I’ve seen that is based on or in Greek mythology, they say, ‘Hercules, son of Zeus.’”
The Disney adaptation is no exception, they point out.
Why is Hercules “wrong?”
Well, define wrong. The movie is an animated kid’s flick and doesn’t need to follow ancient mythology to a T.
For instance, the Disney film didn’t include Heracles’ canonical murder of his wife and kids ― but yes, if you want to be technically accurate about it, Heracles (or Herakles) is the first, Greek name.
While the Greek Heracles was hailed for his strength, the Roman Hercules was worshipped as a god of merchants and traders. The Disney movie relied more on the Greek version.
The Latin version of the name (Hercules) has pretty much overtaken the Greek in common parlance, and even Dictionary.com says they’re “two different names for the same figure in Greek mythology.”
But the TikToker’s issue is that “they say Hercules, son of Zeus.”
And Zeus is the Greek version of the Romans’ Jupiter ― so, they argue, “if you want to use Hercules, that’s fine, just make sure you call his father Jupiter.”
“For clarification, the use of Hercules alone doesn’t bother me,” the poster added in the comments of their video. “It’s the pairing of the Roman Hercules with the Greek Zeus that bothers me.”
People had thoughts about the TikToker’s video ― but she’s not alone
Some people thought the distinction was unnecessary, and reckoned Hercules just sounded better (probably the studio’s reasoning, too).
However, others were similarly frustrated ― an app user commented, “the worst part is that Hercules and Heracles [have] the same [amount of] syllables, so all the fun Disney songs STILL WORK if you use his proper name!“
On the University of Alberta’s blog, Classics graduate Laura said “I don’t understand why he is called Hercules even though this is following Greek mythology.”
“In Greek mythology his name is Herakles; Hercules is the Roman name. It’s a bit strange since everything else in this movie is from Greek mythology,” th added.
So it seems that yes, the movie’s title is technically a common “error”. But as the (delightful!) movie proves, sticking strictly to the canon isn’t necessary for making a great film ― and that’s the Gospel truth.