Hecate (Hercules: The Animated Series)

Hecate is an Olympian goddess of the Underworld and an antagonist in Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series.

She was voiced by Peri Gilpin.

ROLE

Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and of the night. She longs to take over the Underworld from Hades in much the same way he longs to take Olympus from Zeus. According to Pain and Panic Hecate is far eviler than Hades and indeed Hecate has shown that while Hades seeks to rule Olympus her planned stewardship of the underworld would be ushered in by killing every mortal on earth. Hecate has tried on numerous occasions to usurp Hades but been stopped by Hercules despite his enmity with Hades. Hecate feels that the Underworld should be hers and the only reason Hades received rule of it was that he was Zeus' brother. Hades claims that Zeus gave him the Underworld to manage as an intentional burden but cares about maintaining his post greatly despite his ambitions to take over Olympus. Because of his possessive nature and Hecate's ambitions Hades and Hecate have a great hatred for each other. Hades appears stronger than Hecate but Hecate usually can play her witchcraft to its maximum effect through great resourcefulness. Hecate is aided and followed by her two beloved pets called Canis & Lupus who are well-spoken winged wolves. Her schemes to overtake the Underworld have included stealing Hades' flame (apparently a physical manifestation of his divine powers), steal powers from the heroes of Greece to fuel one of her monsters, convince Zeus reassign her Queen of the Underworld and attempting to bribe/win over other denizens such as the Fates, Cerberus and Charon.