The Garden of the Hesperides

"The Garden of the Hesperides, Atlas' daughters, was Hera's orchard in the far western corner of the world, where either a single tree or a grove of trees bearing immortality-giving golden apples grew. Hera placed in the garden a never-sleeping, hundred-headed dragon (named Ladon) as an additional safeguard. The 11th Labor of Hercules was to steal the golden apples from the garden. He stole the apples by asking Atlas to steal the apples and in return he would hold up the sky for him. After Atlas picked the apples Hercules asked Atlas to hold up the sky for him while he made a pad of the lion skin. He never took back his job of holding up the sky and ran away." -Wikipedia

The Golden Apple Tree Sign On The Gate Door

So, instead of a hundred headed dragon, there's a two headed dragon. So, will we ever enter this area? Or it will be forever forbidden to us wizards? Will it eventually turn into a Level 100 Dungeon? Or is it just for looks? Do you think we'll also see it in Pirate101? Or will this garden be solely only in Wizard101? Time will tell. Having dragons staring at us when we enter Wizard101's Aquila is tough to ignore. Although, a golden apple does sound juicy...

You know, Immortality might sound good, but imagine never growing old and seeing everything repeat itself and seeing all of the bad as well as the good. It would wear you down eventually. It could also make you feel arrogant and cocky which would make you want to put yourself above others. So Immorality is not always a good thing.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Suddenly I think of Snow White and the poisoned red apple. Then I realized that in paintings of Adam & Eve, they look like they are eating apples too. In Greek Tales, golden apples gave you immorality. In Fairy Tales, it was poison. In Biblical Tales, it was knowledge and temptation. Hmm, you see where I'm going?

Red Riding Hood

It's reminding me of the Red Riding Hood story with the wolf in grandma's clothes. Or as we all know this idiom, "Wolf in a Sheep's clothes".. Obviously the Apple is the "wolf in a fruit's clothes" in certain stories.

So are apples really bad? No. It's just interesting that it has been mentioned quite few times throughout history. Apparently, it's just a very popular fruit! It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits of all time. It actually originated in Central Asia, which then spread to Europe and other areas. It has been grown for thousands of years and even were brought to North America by European colonists. Actually China is still the leading producer of Apples, believe it or not. United States comes in second.

Actual Golden Apples (and no it's not the metal gold)

Apples also symbolized love. In Ancient Greece, apples were considered sacred to Aphrodite. So if you threw an apple at someone, you were declaring your love. And if you caught it, you were saying that you were accepting it. So no, apples don't always get a bad rap in myths or fables.

However, thinking all of this and the specific Golden Apples in the Garden of the Hesperides story..  If we had to fight into that garden, would you really still walk in, pluck a Golden Apple off its tree and eat it? What do you think? Is Immortality really worth it?