Despite being hailed as heroes in our Lit Hum readings, one can’t help but notice that in a different time and story, these heroes’ stories could be that of villains. Here, Staff Writer Phalaen Chang explores who they might be if reincarnated as Disney villains.

Greek heroes might seem like glory-hungry, blood-thirsty men at first, but they might not be so different from the villains you grew up with–often glory-hungry as well, but somehow more human to us. In honor of finishing the first month of Lit Hum, I present: Greek heroes, but as animated villains from your childhood.

Achilles: Robert Callaghan/Yokai from Big Hero 6

Relatively nice and admired figures transformed by grief, both of these characters lose their loved ones due to some horrible miscalculation stemming from either their pride or the arrogance of others. Achilles loses Patroclus to his overconfidence in being able to regain reputational pride without compromising his individual pride. Callaghan loses his daughter when fellow scientist Krei sends her through a newly designed teleportation portal despite being notified there was a magnetic abnormality moments before out of eagerness to impress officials. Carrying immeasurable grief for this loss of their loved one, both Achilles and Callaghan find themselves in the middle of a rage-fueled violent rampage aimed at seeking some sense of justice for their loss. The only difference is–one of the characters’ loved one is later found alive again.

Agamemnon: “Goob”/The Bowler Hat Man from Meet the Robinsons 

Where Achilles often seems to feel that he was born into a position below his actual abilities, the opposite is true for Agammemnon. When things start getting rough, he becomes easily discouraged and creates more problems for himself than there might have been initially. Similarly, despite not entirely being hated by everyone, after failing to catch a ball at the baseball game, Goob convinces himself that everyone hates him which then leads him to team up with a bowler hat for revenge, along with making other short-sighted decisions. Both also understand on some level the role of family structure as a smaller diorama of cohesion in society and values the concept of family for personal needs (as is depicted through Goob’s consistent anger at his missed chance at adoption and Agamemnon’s care for his brother Menalaus through fawning over his injury in Book 4 and dissuading him from the duel with Hector in Book 7) but are unable to act in such a way where they take their understanding and become the kind of figure they could have been.

Odysseus: Hans from Frozen

Clever, cunning, charming, capable of observing and understanding what the people they are dealing with want, both characters approach their goals strategically with impressive resourcefulness that utilizes both resources and those around them to their advantage–Hans’ betrayal of Anna and Odysseus’ ability to wield his words and storytelling as a means to gain sympathy and help were impressive. In Hans’ case, he was able to mirror back Anna’s energy and, in Odysseus’ case, he was able to paint a story vivid enough to suffice as trade for concrete resources. Both are also able to use some form of disguise/manipulate their identities–Odysseus disguises himself as an old beggar and Hans takes on different faces around different people–in order to regain a sense of home and glory that can only be found in reclaiming a position of power had been taken from them.

Paris: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast

They’re both handsome, popular, and know it. They’re also men who both are immensely shallow and love women only for their beauty and would start something like a war to win her as long as they’re not the one getting their hands dirty–just as Gaston manipulates a mob into killing the Beast, Paris jumps at the chance to duel Menelaus in a fight that could have prevented all the fighting later, until he realizes he is in danger and promptly floats out to chill with Helen while others fall into chaotic violence.

Achilles Via Wikimedia Commons