Medusa: Difference between revisions

|homeland= [[Underworld]] ([[Underworld Castle]])

|voicedby= '''English:''' <br />[[wikipedia:Venus Terzo|Venus Terzo]] (''[[Captain N: The Game Master]]'')<br />[[wikipedia:Cree Summer|Cree Summer]] (''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' and ''[[Medusa's Revenge]]'') <br />'''Japanese:''' <br />[[wikipedia:Naomi Shindo|Naomi Shindō]] (''Kid Icarus: Uprising'' and ''Medusa's Revenge'')

'''Medusa''' (メデューサ ''Medyūsa'') is the goddess of darkness and a recurring antagonist of the [[Kid Icarus (series)|''Kid Icarus'' series]]. Prior to her banishment to the [[Underworld]] by [[Palutena]] due to her evil deeds against humanity, she co-ruled with the goddess of light.

 

[[File:Normal_Medusa.PNG|thumb|left|Medusa before her transformation as seen in ''Medusa's Revenge''.]]

In the original ''[[Kid Icarus]]'', Medusa is typically shown as a monstrous gorgon with scaly green skin, a single eye, and snakes in her blonde hair. Before she was cursed by Palutena to take a form of a monster, the manual of the original NES game states that Medusa was a beautiful goddess. Also, the anime short, ''[[Medusa's Revenge]]'', depicts her before her transformation as a relatively attractive-looking young woman with pale skin and long black hair.

 

Her greatly revamped look in ‘’Uprising’’ gave her a much more human-like appearance while retaining some of her gorgon features such as snakes on her hair and scaly hands. She has ghostly white skin, black hair instead of the previous blonde, and a black tattoo running down her left eye. Her dress is a dark purple with gold and crimson that is also very long, making her legs and feet not visible. She wears numerous gold accessories and ornaments to give off a regal look to fit her title as queen. Medusa is usually seen wielding a serpentine staff resembling the [[wikipedia:ouroboros|ouroboros]]. Her monstrous form is similar to the one from the first game. 

Medusa is a goddess with a very sinister and wicked heart. She has a strong hatred of humans and enjoys watching them suffer by her own hands. She is a vengeful goddess that does not go down lightly and will hold life-long grudges to those that oppose her. Medusa is also significantly much more serious compared to the other gods as she rarely ever jokes or breaks the fourth wall. However, Medusa seems to be not completely evil as she can be willing to help her own enemies in order to stop a much [[Hades|greater foe]].

[[File:Human_Medusa.gif|left|35px]]

In the beginning, Medusa co-ruled [[Angel Land]] with Palutena. Whereas Palutena fostered the growth of humanity, Medusa hated their kind, and took to drying up crops and petrifying people. Palutena, in a fit of anger, changed Medusa's form to a cyclopic, snake-haired monster and banished her to the Underworld. Because of this, Medusa vowed one day to overthrow Palutena and retake her position in the [[Palace in the Sky]]. Over time, Medusa gained the allegiance of Underworld monsters and led an attack against [[Palutena's Army]]. The ensuing war did not go well for Palutena as the [[Three Sacred Treasures]] were lost, the [[Centurion]]s were turned to stone, and Palutena herself was captured and imprisoned within her own palace, unable to help as her beloved Angel Land swarmed with the forces of evil. As a last resort, she called out to [[Pit]], the former leader of her personal bodyguards, now kept prisoner in the lowest dungeons of the Underworld. Responding to the call, and armed with a [[Bow]] manifested by the goddess' waning strength, Pit set out to destroy the invaders and defeat Medusa.

 

When Pit encounters Medusa in the [[Palace of the Sky]], she has taken refuge in a large effigy of herself. Pit must dodge deadly rays and [[Tanatos]] snakes from her hair, all while attempting to hit her with [[Arrow of Light|Arrows of Light]]. By positioning himself just a little bit under eye-level, he can avoid the majority of her attacks easily. Once she's taken enough damage, the eye will disappear, revealing a crumpling Medusa. The [[Mirror Shield]] will block her eye beams, but only if the shield is up (when Pit's not firing). Careful timing will prevent unnecessary damage.

Medusa_monsterPict.png|Medusa's monster form from ''Kid Icarus''.

File:CaptainNMedusa.png|Medusa in ''Captain N: The Game Master''.

Medusa_Beta.png|Medusa's very early design from a beta footage of ''Uprising''.