Hydra; My brother's Coastal (meaning - if I remember correctly, a 2 headed serpent)
Copied from Encyclopedia Britannica (cause I couldn't be bothered doing it myself, lazy tonight...
):
Hydra, in Greek legend, the offspring of
Typhon and
Echidna (according to the early Greek poet
Hesiod’s
Theogeny), a gigantic monster with nine heads (the number varies), the centre one immortal. The monster’s haunt was the marshes of Lerna near Argos. The destruction of Hydra was one of the 12 Labours of
Heracles, which he accomplished with the assistance of
Iolaus. As one head was cut off, two grew in its place; therefore, Iolaus finally burned out the roots with firebrands as soon as Heracles cut off each head. At last Heracles severed the one immortal head from the body and buried it under a heavy rock.The arrows dipped by Heracles in the poisonous blood or gall inflicted fatal wounds, eventually including his own accidental death at the hands of his wife,
Deianira (according to Sophocles’ tragedy
Trachinian Women). In modern English,
hydra or
hydra-headed can describe a difficult or multifarious situation.
Even cooler than just two heads
I still snigger at echidna. Tricky pairing that, even for a Greek god...