The OG Hera’s Hatred for Hercules
The Hera of ancient Greek folklore was not like the Hera of Disney’s Hercules. Rather than a kind mother, the OG Hera could not stand Hercules. She tried to kill before he was even born. When Hera found out that Zeus had impregnated Alcmene, she forced Ilithya, the goddess of childbirth, to keep Hercules trapped in his mother’s womb. That plan was eventually foiled when a servant surprised Ilithya, and got her to lose her concentration long enough for Hercules to get born. Hera did not give up, however. A few months later, when Hercules was still a baby, she sent giant snakes to slay him. However, the supernaturally strong Hercules grabbed one in each hand and strangled them to death.
Hera was relentless in her attempts to harm Hercules. At some point, she inflicted upon him a divine fit of madness. In the grip of insanity, Hercules grabbed a bow and killed his wife and children. When he regained his sanity and realized what he had done, Hercules fled to the Oracle of Delphi, to find out what he could do to wash away his sin. Unfortunately, Hera controlled the Oracle. She got it to saddle Hercules with a series of seemingly impossible tasks as a condition for cleansing him – what became the Twelve Labors of Hercules. In short, if Disney’s Hercules had adhered to original source material, Hera would not be the doting mother, but the villain of the story.