- “This... Is the last... STRAW, AMPHITRYON!!”
- ―Demetrius pulling an urn off his head angrily[src]
Demetrius is a minor character from the 1997 Disney animated feature film Hercules.
Background[]
Personality[]
Demetrius appears to have a dislike towards Hercules due to many incidents that may have happened at his shop as a result of the boy’s inability to control his godlike strength. In spite of this, he seems to have been very tolerant of Hercules in the past, initially believing that he was only a young boy who is capable of learning from his mistakes. Overtime, however, Hercules never improved in spite of his efforts to do so, and Demetrius' patience with the boy gradually wore thin, resulting in him becoming very nervous and eventually fearful whenever Hercules was near. When the entire marketplace, including his own shop, are destroyed as a result of Hercules’s clumsy antics yet again, the now-angry Demetrius (and the rest of the villagers) ultimately lashes out at Amphitryon for the accident, showing that even he can reach a breaking point when pushed one too many times.
Role in the film[]
Demetrius had a shop full of fragile pottery by the time young Hercules was a teenager, but was wary of his clumsiness and lack of control in his strength. He is first seen in his pottery shop, struggling to lift a heavy pot and nearly drops it until Hercules catches it for him. Demetrius thanks him, not realizing who his good Samaritan was behind the heavy pot, but he quickly becomes horror-stricken when Hercules reveals himself. Fearing another potential accident (as his reaction implies that this has happened many times before), he immediately declines Hercules’ help and continues to carry the pot himself, despite Hercules seeing that he was clearly still struggling with it.
When Hercules leaps thirty feet in the air and catches a discus thrown by a group of other teenagers, he ends up getting thrown onto a giant pillar into the street. Villagers dive for cover as one column strikes another column, which strikes another column like giant dominoes, the columns tumble down until the entire colonnade collapses. When it reaches Demetrius' shop, he is seen carrying pottery as the columns keep tipping toward him until two columns meet, but to his luck, they didn't fall on him. As Demetrius sighs in relief, Hercules rushes to help, but slips in a puddle. With a yelp, Hercules slides into Demetrius' shelves of fragile pottery and crashes into Demetrius. When the dust settles, an ashamed Hercules stands in the middle of all the rubble, feeling humiliated. Angry and finally fed up with Hercules' clumsiness, Demetrius' head is stuck in one of his potteries when he says, "This is the last straw, Amphitryon!" as he removes it. Demetrius smashes it, as he joins the townspeople who call the young Hercules a menace, deeming him to be too dangerous to live among normal folk. Amphitryon tries to assure them that it was only an accident, but the enraged pottery seller is done with his excuses and warns him to keep Hercules away from the marketplace from now on, calling him a freak, to which the other townsfolk agree, further crushing the already-disheartened teen's spirit. After this, Demetrius is not seen again for the remainder of the film.
Hercules (TV series)[]
Demetrius returns in as a non-speaking cameo in the episode, Hercules and the Tapestry of Fate after getting knocked into his own pots by Hercules and Icarus while getting tickets for the Orpheus Never Look Back concert.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- As a pottery salesman, Demetrius probably ended up selling urns dedicated to Hercules following his rise to fame, which would lead to him apologizing for any past troubles.
- Demetrius is most likely named after Demetrius of Alopece, a Greek sculptor from the 4th Century BC, renowned for his life like work.
- He holds the distinction of being the first Disney character to be voiced by Wayne Knight.
