The Labors Of Hercules Beal Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Hercules Beal

A sixth-grader living above the family nursery with his brother after their parents died in a car crash eighteen months earlier. Assigned twelve impossible labors, he discovers each one is really a way back to his own heart.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Lion in the Cave; Part 2: Fear Wearing a Bully's Face; Part 3: Wild Things and Borrowed Medals; Part 4: Letting the Dog Go
Themes:: Grief as a labor, not a battle; Monsters are something else entirely; Family rebuilt through shared work; The teacher who assigns the wound; Beauty waiting to be found

Achilles Beal

Hercules's older brother, struggling alone to keep the nursery alive. Cleaning the greenhouse finally cracks his silence, and the brothers talk about their parents for the first time.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Lion in the Cave; Part 3: Wild Things and Borrowed Medals
Themes:: Family rebuilt through shared work

Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer

Hercules's homeroom teacher at Cape Cod Academy, a veteran who wears a Purple Heart from Afghanistan. He assigns the twelve labors and, in the end, reads Hercules's final essay aloud without naming its author.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Lion in the Cave; Part 3: Wild Things and Borrowed Medals; Part 4: Letting the Dog Go
Themes:: The teacher who assigns the wound

Viola

Hercules's classmate, whose family runs a dairy farm. She helps him see that the hidden apple orchard was always there, waiting to be found.

Appears in:: Part 2: Fear Wearing a Bully's Face
Themes:: Beauty waiting to be found

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Leon Sutcliff

A large eighth-grade bully who terrorizes younger students until he slips into a compost pile chasing Hercules through the muddy school garden.

Appears in:: Part 2: Fear Wearing a Bully's Face

Mrs. Savage

Hercules's elderly neighbor, whose late husband's white angora rabbit, Artemis, flees into the dunes. Hercules's gentle rescue restores something irreplaceable to her.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Lion in the Cave

Mr. Kostas

The elderly Greek owner of a rival garden center, hospitalized while his three quarrelsome sons let the business slide. Working beside Hercules and Achilles during an early frost heals a decades-old feud.

Appears in:: Part 3: Wild Things and Borrowed Medals
Themes:: Family rebuilt through shared work

How they are connected

Key relationships

Achilles Beal Hercules Beal
Hercules's older brother, struggling alone to keep the nursery alive.
Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer Hercules Beal
Hercules's homeroom teacher at Cape Cod Academy, a veteran who wears a Purple Heart from Afghanistan.
Viola Hercules Beal
Hercules's classmate, whose family runs a dairy farm.
Leon Sutcliff Hercules Beal
A large eighth-grade bully who terrorizes younger students until he slips into a compost pile chasing Hercules through the muddy school garden.
Mrs. Savage Hercules Beal
Hercules's elderly neighbor, whose late husband's white angora rabbit, Artemis, flees into the dunes.
Mr. Kostas Hercules Beal
Working beside Hercules and Achilles during an early frost heals a decades-old feud.
Mr. Kostas Achilles Beal
Working beside Hercules and Achilles during an early frost heals a decades-old feud.

Go deeper

The Labors Of Hercules Beal themes & symbols

Grief as a labor, not a battle · Monsters are something else entirely · Family rebuilt through shared work · The teacher who assigns the wound

Themes explained

Read the full The Labors Of Hercules Beal summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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