In some of the older versions, Medusa wasn’t a monster at all. She was a victim. Assaulted by Poseidon in Athena’s temple, then punished for it by being turned into something terrifying.

So it is that Perseus finds himself agreeing to find and defeat the Gorgon - a monster called Medusa - a task that Polydectes believes to be impossible, since the Oracle has also prophesied that ...