Hera

"From the moment Zeus and I created mortals I've spent my time hating them for the infidelities he shared with them. But once I forgave him, I realized that humanity is the only creation I am truly proud of."

- Hera in "God Fearing Child"

Hera, the All-Powerful Queen of the Gods, was the wife and older sister of Zeus, making her queen of the Olympians. Aside from her duties as queen, Hera was known as the goddess of women and marriage. Both the peacock and the cow were sacred to her and she would often appear in the disguise of a peacock.

Hera was the mother of Ares, Discord and Hephaestus. She was also the step-mother of Hercules and often would use her followers to try to kill him.

History
Marriage being sacred to her, Hera was enraged at Zeus' many infidelities. The one which irked her the most was Zeus's affair with the mortal Alcmene: the product of which was the demi-god Hercules. At every opportunity, from the very moment Hercules was born, Hera would send monsters of various kinds to attack him.

Her first move towards Hercules was where she unleashed the Lernaean Hydra to attack Hercules and Iolaus. The Lernaean Hydra was slain by Hercules and Iolaus. When Hercules is a prisoner of Hippolyta, Zeus pays Hercules a visit and tells him that Hippolyta and her Amazons are servants of Hera. Hippolyta later speaks with Hera. During the discussion, Hera is displeased with Hippolyta for developing feelings for Hercules. Hippolyta tells Hera that the Amazons have had it with her lies and hatred. Hera decides to insure her vengeance by possessing Hippolyta. As Hippolyta, Hera orders the Amazons to ride to Gargarencia and leave nothing left standing. Ultimately, the women cannot destroy the men and their village. Hercules has to fight "Hippolyta" to save both the men and the Amazons. Pithus tries to come to Hercules' aid, but "Hippolyta" slits his throat. When Hercules has a chance to kill the possessed Hippolyta, he cannot do it as he would also be killing the woman he loves. Knowing the pain it will cause Hercules, "Hippolyta" takes a suicidal dive into a ravine. Hercules later went back in time with Zeus' help and prevented Hippolyta from siding with Hera (HTLJ: "Hercules and the Amazon Women").

Hera's Blue Cult led by the Blue Priest occupied Troy when King Ilus was unable to sacrifice his daughter Deianeira of Troy. Right after the Blue Priest is slain by Hercules, Zeus appears to tell his son that Hera still wants Dieaneria. When Hercules refuses to grant her that demand, Hera instead takes him as a sacrifice. Zeus assures the worried Dieaneria that Hera won't dare kill his son. This proves to be true as Hera drops Hercules back on Earth (HTLD: "Hercules and the Lost Kingdom").

Hera later stole Prometheus's torch in order to rob Earth of it's fire. Hercules found the torch on top of a mountain surrounded by a circle of fire. After Hercules threw the torch all the way back to Prometheus' lair, he started to collapse in the circle of fire. Zeus threatened Hera not to kill Hercules or he will haunt her decision on this. This forced Hera to spare Hercules (HTLJ: "Hercules and the Circle of Fire").

After defeating Hera's minion Eryx, Hercules takes the peacock feather he earned to Hera's temple in order to call a truce with her. Hera defies Hercules so he destroys her temple. Zeus appears and tells Hercules that he will only make things worse between him and Hera (HTLJ: "Hercules in the Underworld").

Hera later sends a giant fireball to Hercules' house which kills Deianeira while she slept. This caused Hercules to swear a lifetime vengeance on Hera and even plans to take down Hera's temples. (HTLJ: "The Wrong Path").

Hera was shown to have a Sacred Vineyard near Traycus which was guarded by her worshipers led by Castor and the Cyclops. After the Cyclops enlisted by Hera's worshipers failed to kill Hercules, Hera sent her Executioners to kill Hercules. They were all defeated by Hercules and the Cyclops (HTLJ: "Eye of the Beholder").

When a group of homeless villagers are making their way to Calydon, Broteas steals a chalice from an abandoned town of Parthus which angers Hera. The seer tells Hercules about the abandoned town which is cursed. At night, the seer goes into the temple where the chalice was kept and has a vision of a beautiful woman being given the chalice by Zeus. He also sees Hera exact her revenge on the villagers by turning them all to dust. Hercules wakes the next day to find the villagers about to sacrifice the food he had given them to Hera. Hera later sends the Lead Bounty Hunter and his minions after Hercules and the homeless villagers. They were defeated by Hercules. After Broteus was discovered to have stolen the chalice, Hercules takes the chalice and throws it very far (HTLJ: "The Road to Calydon").

Nessus' brother Nemis enters one of Hera's temples to ask for her help in obtaining Penelope for herself. Hera sends down a club and is instructed to kill Hercules (HTLJ: "As Darkness Falls")

Hera later chains Prometheus to a rock causing Earth to lose the gift of fire and medicine. This caused Xena and Gabrielle to team up with Hercules and Iolaus to obtain the Sword of Hephaestus which would free Prometheus (XWP: "Prometheus").

Salmoneus later obtains some treasure that belonged to Hera. Zandar informs Hera of Hercules' interference and she sends him Pyro (HTLJ: "The Fire Down Below").

100 years ago, Hera was responsible for trapping Typhon's foot in a rock so that she can have Echidna and her children do bad things. Hercules was able to free Typhon. Hera later sends a sign to Maceus to work with the freed Echidna to destroy Hercules (HTLJ: "Cast a Giant Shadow").

Traicus later beseeches Hera for help against Hercules. Hera creates a Minotaur and it's Assistant Minotaur to kill Hercules (HTLJ: "The Sword of Veracity").

Hera punishes Nemesis for refusing to kill Hercules by removing her divine powers. To replace Nemesis, Hera creates the Water Enforcer to kill Hercules (HTLJ: "The Enforcer").

Hera later creates the Fire Enforcer following the destruction of the Water Enforcer (HTLJ: "Not Fade Away").

Hera later realigns herself with the Blue Priest (who was previously revived by Ares) to lead an attack on Jason and Alcmene's wedding (HTLJ: "The Wedding of Alcmene").

When Queen Maliphone prays to Hera for help to stop Hercules, she sends her guards to Bethos (HTLJ: "A Star to Guide Them").

Hera visits Callisto in Tartarus where she offers her an opportunity to return to life in exchange that she kills Hercules in a day. (HTLJ: "Surprise")

When King Augeus starts to think of himself as Zeus, Hera plays along with this and grants him the ability to throw thunder balls in exchange that he kills Hercules by dusk (HTLJ: "Reign of Terror").

Hercules, Iolaus, as well as Jason flash back to their youth when Hera in the form of a young girl manipulated Medea to make sure that Hercules doesn't survive against the Ghidra. After the Ghidra was slain, Hera in her young girl disguise showed up and made Medea disappear before getting away (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: "Medea Culpa").

Hera shows up in person and says she came to make an "offer of peace," saying they always had their "contempt for Zeus in common." Hercules replies that they never had anything in common. Hera begins to tell him how Zeus fell out of love with her, but Hercules stops her and tells Hera to say what she is trying to say. Hera asks "Do you believe that Zeus brought you to Olympus just to help mankind?", laughs and disappears. Hera later visits Alcmene in the Elysian Fields. Zeus is on his throne when Hera walks in. She says that every ally he ever had, including his son, has deserted him. Hera then adds that she thought she could only take over with the help of the other deities, but she now knows that Zeus will hand his power over to her. Zeus replies that he'd rather destroy Olympus first. Hera waves her hand and Alcmene appears surrounded by fire and she says that if Zeus does anything to her, he will never find Alcmene. With no choice, Zeus hands his godhood over to Hera. Hera then banishes him from Olympus saying that he can join the mortals he so admired. When Zeus helps Hercules defeat some opponents in a bar, Hera sends Ares to destroy them. Hercules and the mortal Zeus meet Hera and Apollo on Olympus. Apollo rushes Hercules with his speeder, but Hercules delivers a well-placed punch. Hera then flies through the air and kicks Hercules. Hera gets off with the advantage and has the better of the fight. With two lightning bolts, she pushes Hercules back to where the past and present are stored. Hera tells Hercules that this is the Abyss of Tartarus and that "old Cronos is down there somewhere." Hercules tries to fight back, but Hera blocks all of his punches and then lands some of her own. Hercules is standing next to the railing that separates him from the abyss, almost keeling over from the beating he's taken and Hera walks away. She suddenly turns around, fires a lightning bolt and Hercules falls over the railing. Hera walks up towards the edge of the platform, looks down and Hercules punches her in the face. Hercules is holding onto the railing with one hand and Hera places her foot on it and squeezes down, then comments "I'm going to miss you, Hercules." He succeeds in climbing back over the railing by placing his other hand on the railing, vaulting up into the air, as well as kicking Hera in the back of the head. The kick pushes Hera over the railing, as well as she screams "Hercules!" as she falls down into the abyss of Tartarus. Hercules peers over the railing and responds "I won't miss you." (HTLJ: "Reunions").

A while later, Zeus used his grandson Evander (the son of Nemesis) to use his powers to release Hera from the prison with amnesia. Hoping to regain his marriage back, Zeus reconnected with his wife, who unfortunately was given her memories back by Ares (who payed a visit to The Fates) and attempted to get her revenge. With the help of Hercules, Hera decided to end her vendetta and give Zeus another chance after helping to heal Evander (HTLJ: "Full Circle").

Hera then did some heavy thinking and decided to atone for all the chaos she caused, especially to her step-son. Turning over a new leaf, Hera helped Hercules find the bones of Kronos, the only substance that can kill Zeus when he tries to kill Xena and her unborn child who will bring about the Twilight of the Gods. Because of her betrayal, Zeus disappears Hera (XWP: "God Fearing Child"). Hera's status is henceforth unknown and only stated as "missing" by Ares (XWP: "Eve")

Background

 * Hera was played by Meg Foster in person and was voiced at various points by Joy Watson, Elizabeth Hawthorne and Narelle Swenson.
 * Hera is the only character apart from Hercules and Iolaus to appear in both the series premiere and the series finale of HTLJ. Beyond the series, she appears in both his first televised appearance and his last, an honor she shares with Zeus.
 * A theme of peacock feathers and iridescence was adopted for Hera and her minions in HTLJ. This extends to her costume, which features a collar of feathers, a series of crystals on the bustier and an iridescent cape (although the dark color makes this difficult to see).
 * Hera can be considered the "big bad" of Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. In spite of being the series' primary villain (even being addressed as such in the opening credits) she does not appear in her "true" form until the finale of season four. Until that point, she had appeared in disguise or much more memorably as a set of disembodied eyes with peacock feathers for irises and a menacing voice.
 * In For Those of You Just Joining Us, Hera's distinctive theme music is played whenever Norma Bates appears.
 * Ironically, in the original myths, Hera is the patron of Jason, as well as Hera set aside her vendetta with Heracles so that he could aid her champion in the quest for the Golden Fleece. In HTLJ, she is as antagonistic to Jason as she is to any ally of Hercules.
 * Hera is listed as the mother of a number of Olympians in the Xenaverse: of these only Ares, Hephaestus and Discord are her children in the original myths. Her daughters Hebe and Eileithyia do not appear and are never mentioned.
 * Zeus and Hera are said to have created humanity in the Xenaverse. Mythologically, there were conflicting accounts as to how humanity was created, with Prometheus usually being the one to actually create them on Zeus's orders.