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Description
Asterion, aka, "The Minotaur."

That's right, folks! I ended up drawing The Minotaur! The reason I made him white was because his father, the Cretan Bull, was also white (plus, the name "Asterion" means "star", and stars are typically white; maybe his mother was being affectionate). I made his eyes red because in my version, both Asterion and his father are consumed by a type of madness, a bloodlust, so to speak.

I decided to go ahead give him a double ax, also known as a labrys, since most depictions of the Minotaur have him thus armed. Although I read that in Ancient Crete, the double ax was an important sacred symbol of the Minoan religion, and only accompanied goddesses, never gods. In the end, "Rule of Cool" overruled. I also based the ax's design off of a particular labrys I googled, and based the colors off of the only surviving wall design of Knossos.

Here's how the Minotaur's story in my version works: Minos got on Poseidon's bad side, so the latter got Aphrodite to use her love powers to make Minos' wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with a bull who was only ever known as The Cretan Bull - a white-furred creature plagued with madness. Poseidon let Minos know what he had done, and threatened to use his water powers to sink the island of Crete if Minos didn't raise Pasiphae's bastard son as one of his own. The reason for this was that Poseidon wished to humiliate Minos, and it worked.

However, as Prince Asterion grew up, he became wild and violent, a danger to the people of Knossos, if not all of Crete. Not wanting to provoke Poseidon's ire, Minos sent word to the Oracle of Delphi for advice. Minos was advised to create a labyrinth (really a maze, going by how the myths described it) and place Asterion inside. Minos ended up using this to his advantage when one of his sons was killed in Athens, and he demanded King Aegeus send 14 young Athenians to Crete as a sacrifice...

...except Theseus came and ruined all that, slaying Asterion. Minos was furious because he feared that Poseidon would put the blame on him and sink all of Crete like he threatened, though thankfully Poseidon had long lost interest in the matter.

Asterion (c)

Description
Asterion, aka, "The Minotaur."

That's right, folks! I ended up drawing The Minotaur! The reason I made him white was because his father, the Cretan Bull, was also white (plus, the name "Asterion" means "star", and stars are typically white; maybe his mother was being affectionate). I made his eyes red because in my version, both Asterion and his father are consumed by a type of madness, a bloodlust, so to speak.

I decided to go ahead give him a double ax, also known as a labrys, since most depictions of the Minotaur have him thus armed. Although I read that in Ancient Crete, the double ax was an important sacred symbol of the Minoan religion, and only accompanied goddesses, never gods. In the end, "Rule of Cool" overruled. I also based the ax's design off of a particular labrys I googled, and based the colors off of the only surviving wall design of Knossos.

Here's how the Minotaur's story in my version works: Minos got on Poseidon's bad side, so the latter got Aphrodite to use her love powers to make Minos' wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with a bull who was only ever known as The Cretan Bull - a white-furred creature plagued with madness. Poseidon let Minos know what he had done, and threatened to use his water powers to sink the island of Crete if Minos didn't raise Pasiphae's bastard son as one of his own. The reason for this was that Poseidon wished to humiliate Minos, and it worked.

However, as Prince Asterion grew up, he became wild and violent, a danger to the people of Knossos, if not all of Crete. Not wanting to provoke Poseidon's ire, Minos sent word to the Oracle of Delphi for advice. Minos was advised to create a labyrinth (really a maze, going by how the myths described it) and place Asterion inside. Minos ended up using this to his advantage when one of his sons was killed in Athens, and he demanded King Aegeus send 14 young Athenians to Crete as a sacrifice...

...except Theseus came and ruined all that, slaying Asterion. Minos was furious because he feared that Poseidon would put the blame on him and sink all of Crete like he threatened, though thankfully Poseidon had long lost interest in the matter.

Asterion (c)