Minotaur (Minifigures)

Minotaur

Theme:	Minifigures Series 6
Accessories:	Axe
Years:	2012
[List of appearances]

“Wait, was it left at the next passage, or right?”

―Minotaur

The Minotaur is a Collectable Minifigure released in 2012, as one of the sixteen minifigures of 8827 Minifigures Series 6. He appears in LEGO Minifigures Online.

Description[edit | edit source]

The Minotaur is made totally up out of brown pieces, except the piece which connects the two legs and the body together, which is dark blue, to match in with the printing of his shorts. His shorts are printed on the belt and both legs, as ripped dark blue shorts. They have a white and gold patterned strip running across them. He has an exclusive bull headpiece with two sockets for the bent horns to be placed in, with printed orange eyes. His body is printed with a muscled torso and fur on the sides, and his feet are printed with hooves. His accessory is a small axe with a 3-length black handle and a dark silver blade.

Background[edit | edit source]

According to classical mythology, Minos, a son of Zeus, competed with his brothers for the throne of Crete. Minos prayed to the gods for a sign that he is worthy to rule and promising to honour the god who helps him. Taking the bargain, Poseidon, god of the seas, sends a magnificent white bull out from the water. Overcome with the bull's splendor, Minos decides not to sacrifice it to Poseidon, but instead replaces it with another bull from his own herd. Enraged at Minos's behaviour, Poseidon punishes him by causing his wife, the witch Pasiphaë, to be filled with lust for the white bull. With the assistance of the master craftsman Daedalus, she is impregnated by it and gives birth to a child named Asterion. Called the Minotaur (bull of Minos), Asterion is a monster who is half-man, half-bull. Minos orders Daedalus to construct a prison for the Minotaur. He builds the Labyrinth, a sprawling maze from which the inventor himself is barely able to escape.

Meanwhile, Minos and Pasiphaë's eldest son, Androgeus, competes in an athletics tournament in Athens. While there, Androgeus is murdered. Though the circumstances of his death are unclear, Minos blames the Athenian king Aegeus. Praying to his father Zeus to punish the Athenians, the city is overcome by famine and plague, though Minos's armies are unable to take the city. Wishing to stop their anguish, the Athenians pray for a solution and are instructed to surrender to Minos on his terms. Minos demands that the Athenians send a tribute of the seven finest young men and the seven finest young women to be sent to Crete every seven or nine years. After being inspected, they would be released into the Labyrinth where the Minotaur would hunt and devour them.

After two groups of youths have already been sacrificed to the Minotaur, Aegeus's heir Theseus arrives in Athens. Pledging to slay the Minotaur and rescue Athens from Minos's tyranny, Theseus joins the fourteen youths on their journey to Crete. While there, Theseus is examined by Minos and his daughter Ariadne. As a test, Minos tosses his ring into the water and sends Theseus to retrieve it. While submerged, Theseus is brought to Poseidon's undersea palace and meets the god's wife Amphitrite, who confirms that Poseidon is Theseus's father. She clothes him with a purple cloak and crowns him with golden laurels given to her on her wedding day. She gives Minos' ring to Theseus, and sends him back to the surface where Minos is shocked to see how Theseus has been dressed.

Having fallen in love with Theseus, Ariadne decides to help him kill her brother the Minotaur. She goes to Daedalus to learn how to escape the Labyrinth, and he gives her a ball of thread so that a path may be traced through its winding halls. Ariadne gives the clew to Theseus while he sneaks into the Labyrinth early. Tying the string to the entrance, he encounters the Minotaur, and with his talent for wrestling, he is able to strangle the monster. Theseus escapes from Crete with Ariadne and the other sacrifices before Minos is able to stop them. In his rage, Minos takes out his anger by imprisoning Daedalus and his son Icarus in the deserted Labyrinth, but they, too, are able to escape by using artificial wings. Though Icarus dies when he flies too close to the sun, Minos tracks Daedalus to Sicily where Daedalus has taken company with its king. The king convinces Minos to relax before he hands Daedalus over, but the inventor and the king's daughters kill Minos by pouring boiling water into his bath.

In LEGO City Undercover[edit | edit source]

A robber disguises himself as the Minotaur at a party.

LEGO.com Description[edit | edit source]

This is a description taken from LEGO.com. Please do not modify it. (visit this item's product page) “Wait, was it left at the next passage, or right?”

Half Minifigure and half bull, the legendary Minotaur is said to make his home deep within a great, maze-like labyrinth that only the most brave or foolish of heroes dares to enter. And while that much is true, the rumor that the ferocious beast guards a fabulous treasure is not…in fact, he’s only in there because he can’t find his way out!

The thing is that the Minotaur is just terrible at directions. He used to have a map of the place, but he lost it somewhere and ever since, he’s wandered around the labyrinth hoping to run into somebody helpful who can show him where the entrance is. Unfortunately, everyone that he’s met so far either tries to fight him or runs away. Maybe it’s the horns…or the axe…or the cow-breath?