Courage the Cowardly Dog is a animated horror comedy about a pink, easily frightened dog named Courage who lives on a farm in Nowhere, Kansas (or the middle of Nowhere). He lives with a selfish and greedy farmer named Eustace Bagge and his wife Muriel Bagge, a sweet, old lady who takes care of Courage. The three are regularly faced with villains and weird creatures and Courage has to step up and defend Eustace and Muriel.

So how is Courage a mythological creature? Well, I'm sure most of you have heard this theory, just not explained as well as I'm about to present it to you. Courage the Cowardly Dog is the Hound of Hades, Cerberus. WAIT, don't leave yet, I know you've heard this theory before but just wait, I've made it a lot better, I promise.

Courage is Cerberus, Muriel is Humankind/The Gates of the Underworld (I'll explain later), and Eustace is Hades. The original theory had Eustace as Satan but it makes more sense for him to be Hades instead, because why would Satan have the Hound of Hades? The middle of Nowhere is actually the Underworld.

But how is Courage the COWARDLY Dog Cerberus if 1. He only has one head and 2. He is a coward unlike Cerberus? Courage actually isn't that cowardly. Sure, he gets frightened like all dogs do but he always steps up to the plate to protect Muriel (and Eustace). But what about the heads? You see, the original theory states that Muriel always sees Courage with multiple heads because when he is trying to explain to her the dangers clearly in front of them, he shapeshifts into different things. The only problem is that Courage is seen showing multiple heads, faces, whatever but almost never shows him having more than one head at the same time.

My explanation is that Cerberus is different depending on which version of him you are looking at. Some philosophers and poets say Cerberus only had one head or as many as one hundred! So it is most likely that instead of basing Courage off of just the one Cerberus (it would be weird watching a cartoon about a old couple who has a dog with three heads) but instead combined them so that Courage has the one head but can make one hundred different faces. A 12th century poet, John Tzetze, gave Cerberus three dog heads and forty-seven other heads of beasts of all sorts.

Another thing about Cerberus is that even though he was a guard dog, he would let anyone into the underworld, it didn't matter if you were dead or alive, or if you are supposed to be there or not, anyone could go in as long as he didn't sense you were going to cause trouble for his master, you could enter.

The original theory states that Muriel is Humankind but that doesn't make sense because Cerberus isn't there to protect Humankind, he is there to keep trouble away from Hades and the dead inside. Another theory suggests that Muriel represents the Gates of the Underworld which makes sense. It's only when someone is there to mess with Muriel or Eustace that Courage gets protective. But there is another possibility that people overlook. It is said as long as they aren't trying to cause trouble for his master that Cerberus attacks but Eustace doesn't get in as many predicaments as Muriel so maybe Cerberus has another master? Well if Eustace is supposed to be Hades and Muriel is his wife then who is Hades' wife? Persephone! So to please his master, Cerberus also protects Persephone because that would cause trouble for Hades.

So Courage is Cerberus, Nowhere is The Underworld, and his job is to keep out those who would cause trouble for his master, Eustace/Hades and his wife Muriel/Persephone!

The original theory also states that Katz represents hate, LeQuake represent Greed and Fred represents murder. Supposedly Katz could be Erida/Eris/Discordia the Goddess of Hate, LeQuake could be Plutus/Ploutus the God of Greed (this isn't likely because in some versions he is the child of Hades and Persephone), and Fred could be a Phonoi, a male personification of murder. I don't agree with this part of the theory but the rest makes sense to me.

What do you think about the new and improved version of the Courage is Cerberus theory? Does it hold water? If you find any holes in this theory or know something that could be added feel free to comment it or DM me about it!