Hephaestus, God of Fire and the Forge

Hephaestus, The God of Fire and the Forge, is the son of Zeus and Hera. Although, some myths say that Hera was his only parent, that he had no father. Hephaestus is also the only god who is portrayed as ugly and lame. Mythology gives us two different versions of how he became lame. In the first it is said that Hera, distraught at giving birth to an ugly child, threw him off of Mount Olympus into the sea. The second says that Hephaestus took Hera's side in an argument with Zeus, and that Zeus cast him off of Mount Olympus in the same manner, breaking his legs.

Hephaestus served as the blacksmith and armorer of the gods, using a volcano as his forge. He is the patron god of both smiths and weavers, and was thought to be kind and gentle.

Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite. Along with Ares, they made up one of the first sordid love triangles in history. It was Hephaestus who cought Ares and Aphrodite in a net while they were love making and showed them in their shame to the other Olympian Gods.

Hephaestus Today

Hephaestus was played by Julian Garner and Jason Hoyte Jason (Spice) Hoyte is a stand-up comedian from New Zealand, who made his mark as part of the comedy duo Sugar and Spice, with fellow kiwi Jonathan (Sugar) Brugh.

The Hephaestus Episodes

Xena: Warrior Princess

• Season 3: "The Dirty Half Dozen", Ares steals the secret to the Metal of Hephaestus and gives it to Agathon

• Season 1: "Prometheus", Hera binds Prometheus with the metal of Hephaestus

• Season 5: "Looking Death in the Eye", played by Jason Hoyte

• Season 5: "Motherhood", played by Julian Garner

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

• Season 3: "Love Takes a Holiday", played by Julian Garner

• Season 3: "Surprise", The gates to the Tree of Life are made with the metal of Hephaestus

• Season 3: "The Green-Eyed Monster", Cupid carries Psyche to Hephaestus' hillside cathedral

• Season 4: "One Fowl Day", Ares binds Iolous and Autolycus together, naked, with the metal of Hephaestus in revenger for turning Discord into a chicken.

• Season 4: "If I Had A Hammer", Atalanta prays to Hephaestus, and in return he turns a statue of Hercules that she forged to life.

• Season 6: "Love, Amazon Style", played by Jason Hoyte

Young Hercules

• Keeping Up With the Jasons (Y08), played by Jason Hoyte

• Cyrano de Hercules (Y10), played by Jason Hoyte

• Forgery (Y13), Ares on Trial (Y15) , played by Jason Hoyte

• Down and Out in Academy Hills (Y16) , played by Jason Hoyte

• Under Siege (Y46), , played by Jason Hoyte

Jason's FIlmography

• Te Teku, a New Zealand tv show

• Xena: Warrior Princess..."Warrior...Princess" as Timus

Julian's Filmography

• Alien Cargo (1999) (TV) .... Miner
• Head On (1998) .... Sean
• Sahara (1995) (TV) .... Von Schletow
• Muriel's Wedding (1994) .... Press Member at Muriel's wedding
• "Farscape" (1999) playing "Nam Tar"(voice) in episode: "DNA Mad Scientist" (episode # 1.9) 6/18/1999

Julian Links

• Head on, The official site, has cast bios, synopsis, soundtrack, etc.

Back to the Olympians Page

Home Guestbook E-mail Shop Links NMDP Banshee

Free counters provided by Honesty.com.

Free counters provided by Honesty.com.

Visitors to www.shrinkingbanshee.com