How The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Is Related To Hercules' 11th Labor?

How can you relate The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! trap card to the 11th labor of Hercules? Who is Hercules anyway? What is this 11th labor and what does it have to do with The Golden Apples?

But first, let's start with the answer to who exactly is Hercules? He is a hero from Greek Mythology, but his Greek name is actually Heracles.

Hercules is his Roman name and this is the name that is familiar to most people thanks to movies like Disney's Hercules.

He is the son of Zeus, the Greek king of the gods, and Alcmene, a mortal woman, which makes him a demi-god. He is most well-known for his powerful and immense strength.

Being the son of Zeus with another woman, he was hated by the goddess Hera, who is Zeus' wife and the queen of the gods. Hera did a lot of things to torment and hurt Heracles because of her hatred for him. One of these was to drive him mad, which caused him to kill his own wife, Megara, and their children.

Once Hercules regained his sanity, he deeply regretted his crime and wished to atone for it, so he went to see the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle directed him to serve King Eurystheus for 12 years, doing whatever the guy asked him to do to pay for his crimes.

He was supposed to perform 10 labors, and, afterward, he would be rewarded with immortality. Hercules did all 10 tasks, however, King Eurystheus said that two of the tasks didn't count and so he gave the demigod 2 more labors. All of these labors are collectively known as the 12 Labors of Hercules.

The labor that is related to The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! card is the 11th labor because this is the one that tasked Hercules to bring back some of the apples from the Garden of the Hesperides.

This garden and the apples belonged to Hera. Nymphs known as the Hesperides tended to the garden and the apples while a dragon called Ladon guarded the entire place.

The apples were golden in color and they were said to be able to grant immortality, which explains why The Golden Apples trap card is so powerful and has such great effects.

Just like how the golden apples of the Hesperides can grant one immortality, the Yu-Gi-Oh! trap card can be a game-changer for you depending on how you use it.

If you're able to special summon a very high-powered Malus token, it can be very bad for your opponent but very good for you.

However, you can't just activate The Golden Apples whenever you want to. You have to fulfill all of the requirements and conditions before being able to make use of this card.

In the same way, Hercules wasn't just handed the golden apples for his 11th labor in a silver platter. He had to work hard and really exert effort in order to complete this task.

It took him some time and he even had a number of other adventures on the way, but he was eventually able to find or locate the Garden of the Hesperides.

He killed Ladon the dragon then asked Atlas, who was tasked to carry the world or hold up the sky on his shoulders, to get the apples for him.

While Atlas went to get the golden apples, Hercules took his place in holding up the sky. When Atlas came back with the apples, he was supposed to give them to Heracles and get back to his job of holding up the sky, but Atlas didn't want to do that anymore.

Hercules said that was okay and he'd do Atlas' job for him from now on, but, could Atlas maybe hold up the sky again, temporarily, while he adjusted his cloak and made himself more comfortable with having to bear the entire weight of the world on his shoulders?

Atlas readily agreed, not knowing that he was being tricked. As soon as the sky was no longer his burden to bear, Hercules picked up the golden apples and ran off to deliver them to King Eurystheus. Only then was his 11th labor finally complete.

All these can be related to all the conditions and requirements that one has to fulfill and accomplish if they want to be able to activate the aforementioned trap card.

So you first need to make sure that you control no monsters on your side of the field when your opponent attacks you and you take battle damage.

Only then can you activate The Golden Apples. Only then can you gain back the life points that you lost and only then can you special summon a Malus token.

But if you're able to fulfill all the requirements and conditions, then you can finally make use of The Golden Apples and really get the chance and opportunity to benefit from such a powerful and useful card just like how Hercules was eventually able to finish and complete, not just his 11th labor, but all 12 of his labors. Of course, he got his reward, his immortality, in the end.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Ricciardo Meacci (Public Domain) from Wikimedia Commons
- Pic depicts the Garden of the Hesperides, the nymphs and the Golden Apples of the Hesperides
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget