this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
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Medusa is apparently so ugly that looking at her turns you to stone. And she's ugly because her hair is snakes.
But what if I like snakes? Can I feed the snek a cricket I caught earlier in the dungeon?
She ain't ugly because her hair is snakes. Gorgons are the spawned granddaughters of chaos and she's just the weakest. They're lovecraftian horrors that turn you to stone precisely because you're viewing what does not exist in the realm governed by the gods, the kosmos. The idea of beauty is outside of their very category. They're ugly because they're ontologically hostile to your concept of the world. You could only hope to view them though a bronze mirror darkly if you wanted to try because then you at least filter the true horror of what they are into a shadowy distorted form.
I thought Medusa was punished with that petrifying curse for being too sexy and tempting. And then men still wouldn't leave her alone
That's kinda the late Roman myth where she was cursed. In the original Greek she was one of the many monsters spawned by ceto or the sea monster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgons
Damn, I am not immune to Roman propaganda after all
I think I’ve heard a Roman version before, but I’ve been utterly unable to find it again— everywhere has the Greek that I can find. I don’t care that it’s not the original, the Roman version is interesting in its own right.
The version I heard (but cannot find again! Argh!) had Medusa discovering the secrets of what amounts to shampoo, and being cursed by a goddess of beauty for daring to become as beautiful as said goddess, who was petty. So her beautiful (ie, washed) hair became snakes, and she was changed to be so ugly you turn to stone to look at her.
I’d love a tip to where I could find this version of the story again, or if the version I heard somewhere was even historical to begin with.
I can't help with the Roman version, but it sounds familiar to the take I heard on the Myths and Legends Podcast (if I'm remembering it right): Medusa becomes beautiful, Poseidon rapes her, Athena blames Medusa for getting raped and makes her hideous. I don't remember if Athena tops it off by compelling Perseus to murder Medusa, but she at least gives him the shield and the instructions on how to do it.
https://www.mythpodcast.com/12752/80a-medusa-golden-child/
Edit: I think I was actually meaning to respond to Xeroxcool.
I hear what you're saying, but also:
What if I find eldritch horrors attractive
all the big tiddy gorgon imagery from long ago are from og monster fucker fetishists
I'd go for the gorgon's sisters then, the Graeae. You can look upon them at least without dying, but understanding how creatures can share between them one tooth and one eye while being distinct beings is understanding something outside the cosmic order.