This article is about the Disney+ character. You may be looking for the film character or the TV character of the same name.
The Minotaur (real name Asterion) is a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. He is one of the most infamous monsters in Greek mythology and is currently reforming in Tartarus.
Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes[]
The Cretan Bull, his father
The Minotaur was born of a human, Pasiphaë, and a white bull. Poseidon sent the white bull to Pasiphaë's husband King Minos for him to sacrifice in his honor, but King Minos did not sacrifice the bull because he saw that the bull had the most beautiful fur that he has ever seen and let the bull live. However, Poseidon was spying nearby and saw that Minos had left his white bull alive. Thereafter, mad with rage and anger that Minos had not sacrificed the bull, he cursed Minos by having Aphrodite make Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull. Then, when Poseidon had left for Olympus, Pasiphaë ordered Daedalus to make a fake cow for her to hide inside and lure it. The result of their union was the Minotaur.
Pasiphaë nursed him in his infancy, but he grew rapidly and became incredibly ferocious. Minos, after getting advice from the Oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus and his son Icarus construct a gigantic maze, the Labyrinth, to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos' palace in Knossos.
The Minotaur dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth and every seven years, seven youths and seven maidens in Athens were taken from their families as sacrifices to him. Theseus, the son of King Aegeas of Athens, volunteered to slay the Minotaur and was taken to the Labyrinth as a feast for the monster. Since he wasn't allowed any weapons, Theseus tore off one of the Minotaur's horns and used it to stab the monster to death. Ariadne helped Theseus out of the maze with the help of a thread that showed him his way in, and helped him on his way out.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]
The Lightning Thief[]
The Minotaur carrying Gabe's car
Percy Jackson is running to Camp Half-Blood when the Minotaur attacks him. It is described as having fur from about the belly-button on up and naked except for a pair of bright white Fruit of the Loom underwear.
Percy manages to jump onto the Minotaur's back, pulls off one of the its horns, and kill it by stabbing it in the side. However, the monster manages to hold on to his mother Sally Jackson and was about to kill her until Hades, the god of the underworld, abducted her in a shower of golden light to hold as hostage. Percy decides to keep the horn as a spoil of war. It is also noted by Annabeth Chase that many campers have hoped of achieving such a task for many years.
Sally is released after the Helm of Darkness is returned to Hades by Percy.
The Battle of the Labyrinth[]
Upon meeting Percy Jackson, the ghost of King Minos comments on how Percy had killed the Minotaur, referred to as belonging to Minos by the ghostly king, with his bare hands.
The Last Olympian[]
The Minotaur turning into monster dust (graphic novel).
The Minotaur had reformed from Tartarus and was made a general for Kronos' Titan army. This time however, the Minotaur was clad in armor and carried a large axe whose blade was shaped like the letter Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, possibly because it is the last thing a demigod sees before it is killed. The axe holds necklaces from all the demigods he killed from Camp Half-Blood and elsewhere. While in the Williamsburg Bridge, the Minotaur lead the charge across the bridge against the Apollo campers lead by Michael Yew. When Percy flies in on Blackjack to help, the Minotaur tosses a car at him, forcing him to land on the bridge. Percy then confronts the Minotaur, causing him to become angry and roars at other monsters when they go to attack him. Before they fight, Percy sees that the Minotaur has camp necklaces tied to his twin swords to show how many demigods he had defeated.
The Minotaur then charged Percy, but in a flash, Percy cut his axe in half and sliced off both of his horns. When the Minotaur became angry, he charged again as Percy took the broken axe and ran for the side of the bridge. Percy then held the broken axe and the Minotaur ran into it. Percy then tossed the Minotaur over the side of the bridge and he turned to dust as he fell.
The Heroes of Olympus[]
The Son of Neptune[]
One of Frank Zhang's silly jokes to keep Hazel's spirits up is to ask why the Minotaur crossed the road.
The Mark of Athena[]
The Minotaur appears on the cover of the book that Hercules gives to Jason Grace and Piper McLean.
Later, Percy remembers how Grover had almost gotten killed by the Minotaur while protecting him.
The House of Hades[]
Leo and Hazel encounter Pasiphaë outside of the Doors of Death who Hazel recalls is the mother of the Minotaur.
Appearance[]
The Minotaur was seven feet tall, his arms and legs were like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine, his skin was vein-webbed. He wore no clothes except bright white Fruit of the Looms underwear. His top half was of coarse brown hair that started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as Percy Jackson's arm, he had snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and enormous black and white horns with points someone couldn't get from an electric sharpener.
From a distance, Percy thought the Minotaur was a huge guy, like a football player, with his top half being bulky and fuzzy. He mistook his horns for upraised hands, thinking he was holding a blanket over his head. But then he saw his huge meaty hands swinging at his sides, making him realize that the bulky and fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head was literally his head.
During the Battle of Manhattan, the Minotaur wore standard Greek battle gear from the waist down. This included a kiltlike apron of leather and metal flaps, bronze greaves covering his legs, and tightly wrapped leather sandals. His was head so large he should've toppled over just from the weight of his horns. He seemed to have grown three more feet after being reformed. A double-bladed axe was strapped to his back.
Abilities[]
- Strength: The Minotaur is very strong, able to lift a car over its head and throw it across a small field.
- Regeneration: Being a monster, and therefore without a soul (despite being half-human), the Minotaur cannot be truly physically destroyed. After death, his essence descends into Tartarus were it will eventually reform.
Weapon[]
- Axe: In The Last Olympian, the Minotaur wielded a huge axe with blades in the shape of the Greek letter, Omega. Percy guessed that it was because it would be the last thing the Minotaur's enemies saw (as Omega is the last letter in the Classic Greek alphabet).
Etymology[]
The Minotaur's name translates to "The Bull of Minos." The "mino" in "Minotaur" comes from King Minos' name. The "taur" means bull/cow.
Trivia[]
- The proper name of the Minotaur, as revealed in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, was Asterion (or Asterios), meaning the starry one.
- Both the Minotaur and his father, the Cretan bull, were associated with the constellation Taurus.
- The name Minotaur, taur refers to Taurus the star sign of the bull. The name means The Bull of Minos, the Minotaur's step-father.
- There have been many different depictions of the Minotaur either having human feet or bull hooves.
- The Minotaur is the only known monster to come back in a different book after being completely destroyed independent of Gaea's help.
- In some versions of the myth, it is said that Poseidon in bull form is the Minotaur's father.
- In some version of the myth, Poseidon told Aphrodite to make Pasiphaë fall in love with the white bull, resulting in the birth of the Minotaur. This version is considered canon in Riordan's books, as of Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.
- Theseus, also a son of Poseidon, fought the Minotaur. This could be why the Minotaur was the first monster Percy fought.
- The Minotaur appeared in the first and last book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. He is also carrying an axe in The Last Olympian shaped like an Omega, the last letter of the Greek Alphabet. This could be a reference to the Minotaur being the beginning and the end.
- May Castellan has a teeny Minotaur plush toy in a little Minotaur diaper on her front sidewalk.
- Excluding Alecto, the Minotaur is Percy Jackson's first monster he actively fought against. In an interview with Percy Jackson, he says it was the scariest moment in his life because he was unaware he was a demigod at that point and had nearly lost his mother.
Gallery[]
