“Of course, as with all of the content in Troy, they are also subject to the ‘truth behind the myth’ approach,” adds Georgieva. “So we’ve had a lot of fun researching ways to implement them within this concept. Some lent themselves better than others, and the Minotaur is a good example of this.
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a monstrous, man-eating beast on the island of Crete. This iconic monster was first created when Poseidon presented King Minos with a sacrificial bull which he refused to slaughter, forcing the Greek god to repay this act of sacrilege by cursing the king’s wife to bear a child that was half-bull, half-man.” Mythology is incredible.
“According to the myth, Athenian youths were sent as tribute to Minos, to be eaten by the monster in its lair – a maze called the Labyrinth, built by Daedalus to house the Minotaur. Ultimately, the monster was slain by Theseus – roughly one generation prior to the Trojan War in the timeline of Greek mythology.”
So how do you make that even remotely ‘real’? Well, the team has it covered: “Scientists speculate that the basis for the Labyrinth may be the complex architecture of the Minoan palace in Knossos,” Georgieva explains.
“The name ‘labyrinth’ may be related to the sacred double-bitted axe of the Minoans, called ‘labrys’. In Troy, we’ve created a backstory for our Minotaur that reconciles the timelines and the fact that Homeric Crete is dominated by the Mycenaeans and not the Minoans for at least two centuries since the fall of the latter.
“We think of our Minotaur as a rebel or bandit-king who invokes the symbols of the past to stake a claim for power – he uses the bull mask and the double-axe as means to connect to the Minoan heritage and incite followers.” And that, friends, is how a mythical creature becomes a more realistic, heavy-hitting special unit in a real-time strategy game.