Cerberus

Origin and myth

Cerberus is the hound of Hades, and his job is simple: let the dead in, let no one out. Hesiod's Theogony, from the 8th century BC, calls him "the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong", and names him a child of Typhon and Echidna alongside the Chimera and the Hydra. Later writers settled on three heads, and by the classical period that number was fixed in art and poetry.

The best-known story is the last of the twelve labours of Heracles. Eurystheus ordered the hero to bring Cerberus up from the underworld alive. Heracles descended, asked Hades for permission, and was told he could take the dog if he used no weapons. He wrestled Cerberus into submission, carried him to Eurystheus - who hid in a storage jar at the sight - and returned him unharmed. Orpheus lulled Cerberus to sleep with his lyre when he went to fetch Eurydice; the Sibyl in Virgil's Aeneid drugged him with a honey cake; Psyche did the same. The creature's one weakness in every tale is something that puts it to sleep.

Roman poets embroidered the image with a mane of snakes, a serpent's tail and lion's claws. In the Middle Ages Dante placed Cerberus in the third circle of hell, tearing at gluttons, and the name became a general term for any fierce gatekeeper.

Appearance

The body is a massive hound, somewhere between a mastiff and a wolf, with a deep chest, heavy bone and a short, dense coat. The three necks spring from a single broad set of shoulders; the central head faces forward, the two outer heads angle outward, so that from the front the silhouette is a fan of jaws. All three heads share the same breed: broad skull, cropped-looking ears, heavy jowls, teeth bared.

The Roman additions make the design richer. A ridge of small serpents runs along the spine from the necks to the tail root, each snake sculpted as a short, thick S-curve rather than a long strand. The tail is either a plain hound's tail or a full serpent with a head at the tip. Claws are large and dark. Colours are black or very dark grey for the coat, with the possibility of glowing red or ember-orange eyes and a hint of red inside the mouths. Chains at the neck are a common detail: a collar of bronze on each head, joined by a chain to a ring in the gate.

In modern fantasy

Cerberus is a fixture in Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder as a hell hound and guardian, appears in God of War, Hades, Final Fantasy and many other games, and shows up in film and animation wherever an underworld needs a doorman. Modern designs tend to enlarge the creature to horse size or larger and add fire effects. The general three-headed hound belongs to everyone; only a specific franchise's take is off limits for copying.

3D printing notes

Cerberus is a solid four-legged mass with three heads, which is close to ideal for printing. At 28-32 mm, resin captures the teeth and the spine serpents; FDM at this size would lose them. At 75 mm, FDM at 0.12 mm layers is entirely realistic for a standing or crouching pose, and the model is heavy enough to stand without a base if the feet are flat.

The three heads are the support question. If the outer heads are angled outward and slightly down, all three chins can be supported from below with a single tree that touches only the underside of the jaws. Alternatively, print the heads as separate pieces at the neck, hidden under a collar, which also allows each head to be oriented individually. Print the serpent tail separately and lying flat, and pin it into the tail root. The spine serpents are short and thick enough to print in place on the body.

For a 150 mm or larger centrepiece, hollow the body to 2-3 mm walls with drain holes in the paws. Pose ideas: a straining lunge against a chain anchored to a printed gate section; a seated guard pose with all three heads looking in different directions; a sleeping pose curled at the foot of a gate, which prints with almost no supports and tells the Orpheus story.

Painting and display

Black fur is painted with grey. Base in a very dark grey rather than pure black, wash with black, then dry-brush with a mid-grey and finally a cool light grey on the tops of the muscles and the skull ridges. Glaze the inside of the mouths a deep red and the gums a purplish black. The eyes are the accent: a bright orange-red with a yellow centre, glossed. The spine serpents can be a subtle dark green to separate them from the fur, and the bronze collars, dry-brushed with a bright metallic, give the eye somewhere to rest.

For display, a base of dark stone with the lower edge of an iron gate, or a river bank with a small printed boat for Charon, sets the underworld scene. Red or orange LEDs behind the model, lighting the gate from below, or a clear resin insert in the mouths for glowing throats, both work well.

Related creatures

Cerberus is a brother of the Chimera and the Hydra, all offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and by some writers an uncle of the Sphinx. For another mythological hound of world-ending size, see the Norse Fenrir.

For a Cerberus to guard your gaming table or your bookshelf, ask Fantasy Lab 3D for a custom print.