Hot Blooded / Mythology

• Hercules (Heracles in Greek) was one of the very first examples. He was known for his violent temper and his tendency to act first and ask questions later, starting with maiming some messengers from another city that had come to take tribute from his hometown, leading the king of that other city to declare war. Heracles responded by raising an army of his own and conquering the city, making them pay tribute instead. Heracles could also take a horrible vengeance on people who crossed him, although in many cases they had it coming, like the three separate kings who had all cheated or insulted him in different ways. On the positive side, this passionate nature did lead him to do some great deeds for his friends, like the time he was so grateful for a friend's hospitality he fought the Grim Reaper to bring his host's wife back to life, or the time he got so mad that another friend (a king) was deposed that he personally led an army to put his buddy back on the throne.
• Cuchulainn, Champion of Ireland, and Gwydion, also from Irish Celtic Mythology. After Cuchulainn's first battle, no one could approach the warrior as he was still in his Unstoppable Rage, until a group of (naked!) women womanhandled him into three large pots of cold water. The first exploded in a cloud of steam and pot shrapnel, the second boiled furiously, and the third merely got very hot. Why the Irishmen did not exploit this apparent energy source is a mystery.
• Four words: Thor, God of Thunder.
• Older Than Dirt: The goddess Inanna (Ishtar) from Mesopotamian Mythology. Aside from her devastating prowess in battle as a war goddess, ignoring the fact she would ride into town on the back of a lion, she was also known for physically dragging men out of taverns to sate her, erm, appetites...
• The Iliad: "Rage! Muse, sing now of the rage of Achilles!"
• Nezha of Chinese Mythology, who killed several dragons for insulting him at age seven.
• Susanoo, the storm god of Japanese Mythology. His older sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu, kicked him out of Heaven for being a troublemaker, and that's when he performed his most badass and famous action: slaying the Orochi to save his soon-to-be wife Kushinadahime from being Fed to the Beast.

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