Sacrosanct
Legend
I love them. One of my favorite monsters since I saw Willingham's version in KotBL, and then of course from the movie Time Bandits. These are some commissions I had done for me years back.
Let's Talk about Minotaurs
FitzTheRuke
Legend
Neither? Min-uh-tor.
In the Marvel Comics, for awhile one of Doctor Strange's apprentices was a green, extradimensional minotaur named Rintrah, who just recently appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (where he had a more natural - not green - appearance). Here's a link to his backstory: LINK
Johnathan
Johnathan
nedjer
Adventurer
Aw ickle baby Minotaur. The baby Jesus appears in exactly the same pose in the Book of Kells and the pose is used again when representing Jesus as a unicorn in the later Unicorn tapestries. The nurse is a form of Potnia Theron addressing a figurative 'wild child'. There are earlier origins indicated by the circulating swastikas which concern the changing of seasons and the fourfold design is thought to involve the four major stellar observations of the year, which are straight from Cucuteni design and further back into v early Europe.
The Greeks were very adept at overwriting Minoan culture, but that's OK because the way ahead of their time, sophisticated and learned
Minoans didn't have any manbeasts, but they did have a mineral extraction colony in Iberia that made life hell for the locals. Empires, what are they like
nedjer
Adventurer
Metaphorically, the story of Theseus entering the maze or Otherworld (of the mind) guided by a golden string of thought/ enlightenment is quite a well-known tale. Our solar hero travels through the ‘maze’/ underworld, (in search of the ‘midnight sun’), until he finds and calms the beast/ minotaur which, like so many other versions of the story, involves Theseus in recognising and winning out over himself. Just a Minoan David and Goliath/ Hercules.
Or maybe there really was a half-man, half-bull underneath the Minoan floorboards . . .
Or maybe there really was a half-man, half-bull underneath the Minoan floorboards . . .
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Rhymes with Centaur.
Fun lore nugget from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse, player race Minotaurs have their origins from the Lady of Pain in Sigil as guardians of her labyrinth.
Neko Princex
Explorer
Mihn-oh-tour
Arnie_Wan_Kenobi
Aspiring Trickster Mentor
I too, like minotaurs.
A bit of thread necromancy here, but I'm in the "Min (rhymes with sin)-O ("American English Long O")-Tore (Rhymes with Lore, Data's "brother")" pronunciation camp. The recent use of the long "I" in the first syllable has really thrown me, but I suppose it makes since; it's how I learned to pronounce Minos/Minoan.
I haven't seen much credit given to Dragonlance on this thread for perception of minotaurs. Thanks to DL in general I envision minotuars with a nautical flair; thanks to Time of the Dragon and Taladas: The Minotaurs, specifically, that's often coupled with pseudo-Roman imperial trappings. The only 5E minotaur I've played was a battlemaster pirate background for a "Salvage Operation" (Ghosts of Saltmarsh) one-off. One of my longest-surviving 3E PCs was a minotaur cleric of Torm, though, and he's one of my overall favorite characters whom I’ve played.
Edits: polished up some grammar.
A bit of thread necromancy here, but I'm in the "Min (rhymes with sin)-O ("American English Long O")-Tore (Rhymes with Lore, Data's "brother")" pronunciation camp. The recent use of the long "I" in the first syllable has really thrown me, but I suppose it makes since; it's how I learned to pronounce Minos/Minoan.
I haven't seen much credit given to Dragonlance on this thread for perception of minotaurs. Thanks to DL in general I envision minotuars with a nautical flair; thanks to Time of the Dragon and Taladas: The Minotaurs, specifically, that's often coupled with pseudo-Roman imperial trappings. The only 5E minotaur I've played was a battlemaster pirate background for a "Salvage Operation" (Ghosts of Saltmarsh) one-off. One of my longest-surviving 3E PCs was a minotaur cleric of Torm, though, and he's one of my overall favorite characters whom I’ve played.
Edits: polished up some grammar.
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Benjamin Olson
Hero
To me the definitive minotaur is the first one I ever met as a small child, the one from Usborne Illustrated Guide to Greek Myths and Legends:
Which I knew by this edition (they seem to use different interior art for the cover for different versions):
Which my parents bought me at the Getty Villa (then the Getty Museum) when I was very, very small indeed. It's probably my earliest memory of buying a book.
Which I knew by this edition (they seem to use different interior art for the cover for different versions):
Which my parents bought me at the Getty Villa (then the Getty Museum) when I was very, very small indeed. It's probably my earliest memory of buying a book.
John R Davis
Hero
Shame they shrunk.
They are otherwise very cool challenges once PCs can defeat the usual medium sized early evil humanoid types, throw in a couple to keep them on there toes
They are otherwise very cool challenges once PCs can defeat the usual medium sized early evil humanoid types, throw in a couple to keep them on there toes
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