Cyclopes's Clique: Big Dudes

Cyclopes's Clique: Big Dudes

These guys are gigantic. They're always stomping down the halls with a mean look in their eyes (or eye, if you're dealing with a Cyclops). The big dudes don't take any junk from anybody—although most people are afraid to start anything with them anyway. More often, the big dudes are the ones bullying everybody on the playground, stealing lunch money and all that bad stuff. What do you think? Are they just misunderstood, or do the giants deserve it when a hero comes along and lets them have it?

The Hecatonchires

These nasty storm giants from Greek mythology were said to have fifty heads and a hundred hands each. Cottus, Briareos, and Gyes were their names, and scariness was their game. They were the sons of Gaia and Ouranus, making them the brothers of the Cyclopes, Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. Just like their Cyclopean brothers, the Hecatonchires were buried deep under the earth (Gaia) by Ouranus and were later tossed into Tartarus by Kronos. Both times, though, the Hecatonchires were sprung from jail, along with the Cyclopes, when Gaia helped launch a rebellion against the kings of the gods who locked them up.

Frost Giants

These huge bad guys from Norse mythology are always causing trouble for the gods. Jötunn is the Norse name for their race, but when you take a tour of Jötunheimr, their icy homeland, you can totally see where the name Frost Giant came from. These guys come in all forms: some of them have tons of heads or hands like the Hecatonchires, some have fangs and claws, and others look more like enormous animals than giant men.

Humbaba

This guy is a really nasty giant from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. When we say nasty, we mean nasty—some say his face was a big long coil of intestines. (Um... gross.) The gods put all of Humbaba's nastiness to good use, though, and had him guard their home, the Cedar Forest. But Humbaba's security job came to an abrupt end when the warrior-king Gilgamesh came along with his side-kick, Enkidu, and chopped off his head.

Hayagriva

This horse-headed giant from India was said to have stolen the sacred writings of Buddha himself. Some say he got killed by the god, Vishnu. In Tibet, he's thought of as a god of rage and also a god of horses (which would make sense with that horse head of his).