Which Came First, Fear or the Monster?

I believe that fear came first, and that the monster was created to explain that fear. For instance, Cyclopes' were feared by many people as man-eating giants. I have read that that fear was probably based on elephant skulls that were found somewhere. The holes in the skull for the air ducts in the nose were probably mistaken for one huge eye socket. By creating the Cyclopes, people were able to put a name and body to their fear, that of a huge animal that would look unlike one they had ever seen before. Sea serpents arose from fear of shipwreck. Ancient Greeks had no wish to sink, and when ships did sink, and often in the same places, sea creatures were thought up that caused whirlpools, or strange tides that are now explained by science as natural forces.

Anything that people do not understand, or fear, is usually nameless and faceless. To give your fear a face, and a substance, makes it less frightening than if it is undefined. A thing with a body can be killed, and a thing with a face can be recognized. On the other hand, if you don’t know what it is that you fear, it is all the more terrible because it is immaterial, and so invincible.

People saw lightning, and believed that a God was angry, and was throwing bolts to punish whatever offended them. In Norse legend, Frost giants would eat people who strayed too far from their homes, or who were lost in the wilds. This was probably to explain the people who froze to death, or vanished into blizzards never to be seen again. All monsters can be traced back to some fear, or some element of nature not understood. Fear of the dark probably began when pioneers would camp, and wolves would circle just outside the light cast by the fire. The dark was dangerous at that time, and so was feared, and still is by many.

Monsters were very real to the people they threatened, because they had no better explanation for people vanishing, thunder, lighting, fires, blizzards, volcanoes, and the unknown. If we could travel back thousands of years with our knowledge of science, we could manipulate any natural phenomenon to our advantage, and some priests and advisors of the times did. Omens were read, and predictions cast, based on the fears and beliefs of the people.

Heroes arose from fear. Heroes were the personification of conquering your fears. A hero could kill a cyclops, or a giant. A hero could, at any moment, sweep down out of the sky and save a maiden from a sea monster. Heroes gave people hope. You could be about to die, but still hope to survive because some superhuman person could save you. Someone could find you as you wandered in the snow, and save you from the Frost giants, or travel to Death, and return.

Heroes were the direct opposite of fears, and so sprung from them. Where there was fear, there were heroes. They saved people from their fear, real or not. A hero could be someone who stood guard against wolves, or killed a bear before it could harm you.

If fears were evil, then heroes were the ultimate of good. Many were the offspring of gods, because people had to believe that their gods were good, and if not, that a hero could thwart them. Heroes were often saints, men of holy stature, blessed by God. That showed that, if you were good enough, you could become a saint, or a hero, and be precious to God. This helped to keep people moral.

If you believed that if you were good, you stood a better chance with God than if you were bad, you had good incentive to be good. People believed that to be welcomed into heaven, or the Elysian fields, or paradise, you had to be righteous by the standards of your religion, and by yourself. If you failed to do that, you could usually count on eternal torment, which was a good reason not to sin.

Heroes were hope, and an ideal for people to aspire to. Anyone could, and can, become a hero. Heroes banished fear, and killed the monsters, and were loved by the gods.