Who will be the New Heracles?

The Greek hero Heracles has become a favorite of mine in recent years. His tales used to bore me before I read the actual attestation. He was the Disneyfied Superman(boring) of the Greek demigods. But if you actually read Apollodorus, you realize he was nothing of the sort. 

The heroes of our time are watered down. Made to be good and wholesome champions of liberal democracy, which is fitting for a society that’s forgotten it’s place in nature. It’s not that nature doesn’t matter anymore, it’s that in our great hubris we think we’ve mastered nature. And you see it in the rhetoric. Despite whatever technological advancements we’ve made, we still exist within nature.

We remember Heracles as the first hero. He set out into nature, a dark and dangerous world full of chthonic monsters that terrorized the common folk. We remember Heracles because he tamed the world for mankind by conquering those monsters. 

His reasons weren’t purely noble. He was man seeking redemption in the eyes of gods and men. Heracles completed his Twelve Labors to atone for killing his wife and children. Regardless, he was spurred into action by Nemesis. Nemesis to us moderns means like an adversary, but to the Greeks, Nemesis meant to give what is due. 

To give what is due. 

The Greek story of Heracles seems impossible in modern times. There’s no more monsters, right? The two aren’t as separated as you’d think. We just have different monsters. Imagine some dystopian America — basically the same America we live in now — that gave birth to a new Heracles. 

Now imagine this new Heracles, on the run from the law, seeking guidance from some Native American shaman on how he can redeem himself before the gods. He’s made to serve some billionaire for ten years and by doing so, he will be redeemed and made into a god. 

This billionaire has scores to settle and uses Heracles as his battle axe. Fast forward to breaking news, straight from a CNN helicopter recording an ongoing terrorist attack on Amazon Headquarters. Blurry pictures are then shown of the suspect. A hulking man wearing a lion’s pelt, battle armor, and black BDUs is shown dual wielding machine guns.

The reporter then starts talking about Jeff Bezos trying to escape from a helicopter on the roof. Authorities are unable to get to the scene due to a coordinated truckers strike blocking the roadways. As the helicopter starts to lift off, it’s tail is shot to hell by Heracles and it wrecks. 

Our new Heracles pulls an injured Bezos from the burning helicopter and executes him live on TV. Seeing the news helicopter, Heracles fires on CNN next forcing the helicopter to retreat from the horrific scene. 

Every institution in America would be mobilized against Heracles. 

Conservatives would talk about how it was Bezos ‘ American right to build up his wealth like he did. He worked hard for it. Heracles was a psychopath. They’d even start the rumors that Heracles was a white supremacist who murdered his own family. 

Liberals will have the talking points about how yes, no one should be as rich as Bezos but the man donated so much money to minorities and was the first to recognize the power of diversity, having mandated it in all Whole Foods stores. They would parrot the talking point of how Heracles is a Neo Nazi and authorities actually found a copy of Mein Kampf in his home. 

Would Heracles get around to finishing the labors asked of him? Or would the wide sweeping propaganda machine brainwash enough people to undermine and overpower the Son of Zeus? Perhaps, his billionaire financier would sow the seeds of chaos into the nation to stop the institutions from thwarting the new Heracles. 

Would Heracles be dissuaded from continuing his labors in such a world or would he carry it out undaunted?

After his Twelve Labors, new Heracles stands upon the heaping ruins of the old United States with machine gun in hand and an American flag flying in the background. He ushers in a new age for the country where the people aren’t oppressed by stifling bureaucracies and corrupt institutions.

He’s made the world safe for mankind again. No longer are the people made sickly and mentally ill by their evil overlords looking to milk them for everything they’re worth. Life may have been made harder, but infinitely more fulfilling. 

For a man to do this, he would have to shut out the corporate brainwashing of the media. He would have to understand it was either victory or death. New Heracles would have to have been spurred by powerful Thumos. The dystopian monsters of our age was an affront to his honor before the gods. 

To make this heroic tale lame, technology has dwarfed the strength of heroes. 

How long till the government just drone strikes new Heracles in the middle of one of his labors? Would other nations capitalize on the chaos? What would a new Heracles actually have to be like in modern times to actually succeed?

The world is always changing. Even today where nothing seems to happen, you can see world powers maneuvering against one another. Only leftists think history has ended. Only modern Americans believe that bullshit.

No one can say what tomorrow will hold. What we do know is no empire sticks around forever. The age of heroes is far from over. This is why you must still build yourself. Embrace the barbaric masculinity of our ancestors. Become strong and powerful.