- “Yeah, I had a dream once. I dreamed I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was. So great, the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars... all across the sky... and people would say, 'That's Phil's boy.' That's right... Ah, but dreams are for rookies. A guy can only take so much disappointment.”
- ―Phil on his dream[src]
Philoctetes (better known as Phil) is the tritagonist of Disney's 1997 animated feature film Hercules. He is a crotchety, old Satyr (half-man, half-goat) who served as a trainer of heroes in Ancient Greece—most notably Achilles and the powerful demigod, Hercules.
Background[]
Phil was born in the village of Satyrville, to his doting mother and an unnamed father. He was raised alongside his brother, Sal, towards whom Phil felt resentment due to their mother constantly boasting Sal's achievements while (apparently) rarely doing the same for Phil's accomplishment. In truth, and as revealed in "Hercules and the King For a Day", Cacophone has always been equally proud of her sons, but rarely goes out of her way to compliment them to their face as a way to keep them humble.
At some point, Phil would leave Satyrville to pursue his dream of becoming a hero trainer and train a hero so great that his image will appear in the stars and that people would recognize him as "Phil's boy". His base of operations was on a remote island that occupied several state-of-the-art gyms and training fields. Although Phil's pupils received fame and notoriety thanks to their mentor's training efforts, they all fell out of favor with the public after suffering humiliating (and sometimes deadly) defeats, most notably, the one that was supposed to be his star pupil and instead became the the most disappointing, Achilles. As Phil puts it, "none of them could go the distance." As a result of the failures, Phil's reputation was severely damaged. Battered and now pessimistic and cynic due to his failures, he eventually retired to avoid further disappointment (and because of his age), which caused his home and training facility to fall into disrepair over the years until the arrival of the powerful demigod, Hercules, and training him gave him one last hope to make his dream come true before he dies.
Personality[]
A tough, rude, and crotchety old satyr (half-man, half-goat), Phil served as a trainer the original Olympians in Ancient Greece, but has been burned by a bunch of hero wannabes and has to be talked into training Hercules. Although he has a big heart, Phil is easily annoyed. He dislikes and becomes angry at others who ignore him or refuse to grant him respect. Philoctetes was the wisecracking trainer of heroes, having done it before with miscellany of legends including Jason, Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus, and Achilles, all of them failed and were defeated despite's Phil's efforts. In particular, Achilles, who was supposed to be his best student among the heroes he trained over the years, suffered an extremely embarrassing defeat because of his one and only weakness, his heel, became his most embarrassing failure instead. Until he was convinced by Hercules to help him become a true hero, Phil was disappointed so much the last thing he needed was to be let down by some starry-eyed yahoo with more muscles than brains. By imposing hundreds of Philoctetes' hero rules, and constant days of practice, Hercules transformed from klutzy boy into hero material. When not busy training heroes, he spends his time watching beautiful women and flirting with them, only to usually face rejection. While ornery, he has good heart and a sense of compassion. This is shown in the event in Meg's temporary death, when he regrets having hostile feelings towards her. He also has a rare condition called Pica, characterized by eating things that are not considered edible. For example, Phil eats a bowl (without fruit) and flowers. This is probably due to him being half goat.
Physical appearance[]
Phil is likely based on the satyr Pan, half-man, and half-goat. He has two goat-like horns on his head, a beard, and a round red nose, and he is also half-bald and short.
Appearances[]
Hercules[]
Phil in Hercules.
Under the guidance of his father Zeus, Hercules travels to Phil's island with Pegasus to begin his training. He stumbles upon Phil watching Nymphs bathing, angering the satyr when they flee at his arrival. Hercules introduces himself and his purpose, though Phil refuses to hear his plea, insisting he had retired having done it before, with chronologically Jason, Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus, and Achilles, who he had trained in the past but all failed, especially Achilles, who was nearly invincible but suffered an enormously embarrassing defeat because of his only weakness, his heel, which caused him to become Greece's laughing stock. The last thing he needed was to be let down by some starry-eyed yahoo with more muscles than brains. Even with a tremendous display of strength and the claim that he is the son of Zeus, Phil refuses to believe him or train him. It is not until a lightning bolt sent by Zeus comically strikes Phil (during the number "One Last Hope") that he believes the story and settles on taking the demigod into his hands.
Phil during Hercules' battle with the Hydra.
Seasons pass as Hercules trained under Phil's counsel before the training is complete, and the two are ready to begin their work. They begin flying to the city of Thebes before being sidetracked by the cry of Megara, whom they believe to be a "damsel in distress" in need of saving from the centaur Nessus. While Hercules fights the centaur, Phil flirts with Meg but is rejected, distrusting her immediately. Although Hercules defeats the centaur, Phil does berate the young hero for the sloppy rookie mistakes he made during the fight. With Megara rescued, the trio of Pegasus, Hercules, and Phil then continue their flight to the unfortunate city. Hercules presents himself to a group of Thebans, who recognize Phil as the "goat-man" who trained Achilles, after which Phil loses his patience with the disrespect shown by the citizens, even beating up one of them for taunting him and reminding him of Achilles and his heel. Moments later, Phil joined Hercules in the canyon, where the two became aware of a weird hissing sound and the Hydra emerged from a cave. Phil ran for cover, then tried to coach Hercules from the sidelines until the young hero lost his sword, and later shakes his head when the Hydra threw Hercules into the air and swallowed him whole. The trainer cheers after the young hero slashes his way out from the monster's throat. However, the Hydra grows more heads, and as Hercules slices off more heads, Phil yells at him to to stop "head-slicing" the monster, as each time he cut a head, three more grew. It's only after Hercules defeats the multi-headed monster by causing a landslide that Phil receives recognition for his efforts. From there on, Phil keeps Hercules on a strict schedule while enjoying the benefits of wealth and glory.
After Hercules accidentally ruins a portrait in his frustration for not being a "true hero" yet, he goes on a date with Meg in a garden, which ended with Phil breaking the two up so the hero could train, scolding him for skipping training that day. When Hercules flies off on Pegasus and accidentally leaves his mentor behind in the garden, Phil witnesses Meg speaking with Hades, who had Meg seduce Hercules in order to learn of a possible weakness. Phil hurries to the stadium in which Hercules is training and insists that Meg is tricking him (although this is only an assumption, as he didn't stick around long enough to hear that Meg was actually refusing to work for Hades anymore). Hercules ignores him at first, not believing him, but a row between them ensues when Phil gets furious, and when he starts insulting Meg, Hercules gets so angry that he slaps him, accidentally knocking him back against a pile of weights and chains, although he immediately regrets that. At this, Phil gives up on Hercules and attempts to return home to his island during Hercules' most vulnerable hour. Even though he's still upset at him over their argument, Meg convinces Phil to forgive his student, saying that if he doesn't help him right now, he'll die, as the Titans are attacking Olympus and a demotivated Hercules is fighting a losing battle against a Cyclops after doing a deal with Hades that caused him to give up his strength in exchange for Meg's safety for a day, and Phil accepts to come back. Hercules manages to defeat the Cyclops with his wits, but when a column is about to fall on him, Meg pushes him away and gets crushed, which leaves her badly injured, but this also breaks Hades' deal. As Hercules goes to Olympus to rescue the Gods and defeat the Titans, Phil decides to stay behind to watch over Meg, but when he returns, it's too late: she had already died from her wounds, as the Fates cut her thread of life. As Phil sadly tells Hercules that there are some things that he can't change, the young hero heads to get Meg's soul in the Underworld, and when he succeeds, he regains his status as a god back and defeats Hades once and for all.
However, after going back to Olympus, he gives up his godhood to stay on Earth with Phil, Pegasus, and Meg. Before their return to Thebes, Phil flirts with the Goddess of love Aphrodite, who kisses him. Phil is overcome by a sense of awe, joy, and unrivaled pride when the stars form a constellation in the shape of Hercules and a man shouts, "That's Phil's boy!", giving him a true sense of fulfillment as a trainer and his own dream and causing him to cry tears of joy for finally managing to reach his ambitions.
Hercules: The Series[]
Phil in Hercules: The Animated Series.
Phil was a main character in the series that took place during Hercules training. He and Hercules would regularly go on adventures often stopping legendary beast or training to become the true hero he will eventually be.
Phil served major roles in a few episodes of the series. In "Hercules and the Living Legend", Achilles returns after his infamous injury rendered him unemployed. He reunites with Phil and secretly manipulates the satyr to rejoin his side as his personal trainer, thus abandoning Hercules. Unbeknownst to Hercules and Phil, Achilles was actually working for Hades, who wanted Phil out of Hercules' life, knowing the hero was (at the time) nothing without his trainer. In the end, when Hercules and Phil are attacked by one of Hades' hired henchman, Achilles arrives, reformed, and saves the duo, learning his lesson after his deal with Hades became void.
In "Hercules and the Caledonian Boar", Phil takes Hercules on a hunting trip, where his old friends are introduced, as well as his old rival, Chiron, a centaur with a far grander track record, having trained some of the most legendary heroes of all time, much to Phil's dismay.
In "Hercules and the Muse of Dance", Phil was shown to be in a relationship with a southern Nymph named Syrinx, despite her aggressive father holding a harsh disliking towards him.
In "Hercules and the King For a Day", Phil was tricked into briefly accepting the throne of Satyrville by King Pan, who was seeking to avoid punishment by the Goddess Demeter for planning to build a temple of worship to himself and taking credit for Demeter's work. This episode reveals Phil's overbearing Mother Cacophone, who perpetually drives Phil nuts through her endless praising of his brother Sal. Driven to accept the throne in an effort to impress his mother, Phil's life is endangered when Demeter sends the the Demigoddess of Revenge Nemesis to smite the King of the Satyrs. While Hercules manages to return Pan to the throne and save his mentor's life, Sal returns home to spend an evening with his family, and reveals to Phil their mother's endless praise of him, revealing she intentionally plays up one's achievements to the other to further drive their efforts to succeed, as well as to keep them humble.
Phil is also a major character in the special crossover episode, "Hercules and the Arabian Night". He is first seen training Hercules when the duo are attacked by the evil sorcerer Jafar, who has teamed up with Hades in a domination plot. Jafar conjures up a few giant monsters to destroy Hercules, but the hero defeats them, sending Jafar back to the Underworld. Later on, Hercules receives word that his friend Icarus has been kidnapped by a boy named Aladdin. Hercules, Phil, and Pegasus travel to Agrabah to save Icarus. There, Hercules and Aladdin battle, as Aladdin thinks Hercules kidnapped his monkey Abu. While Hercules and Aladdin fight against each other, Phil meets Jasmine and attempts to flirt with her until Jasmine reveals she is married. Eventually, the heroes realize that neither of them is the kidnappers. Upon mentioning Jafar's revival, Phil realizes that Jafar had to have teamed up with Hades. Hercules and Aladdin travel to the Underworld where they eliminate Jafar, leaving Hades to simply give up.
House of Mouse[]
Phil with Hercules in House of Mouse.
Phil made recurring cameo appearances in this animated series, usually seen sitting alongside Hercules and Megara.
He had a speaking role in the episode "Donald Wants to Fly" when he and Hercules were witnessing Carpet's stunt performance.
In the episode "Salute To Sports", Phil had his own advertisement at the end of the show promoting a training program where he promised to have people go from zero to hero in twelve weeks, or their money back.
In "Jiminy Cricket", after the titular character's speech, Hercules openly expressed interest in having Jiminy replace Phil as his trainer.
In "Ask Von Drake", Phil was featured alongside Hercules and Hades during the headcount of all the Disney character guests.
Phil can also be seen along with Hercules sitting at the table in Mickey's House of Villains right after the Lonesome Ghosts' debut short ended. During the Disney Villains' takeover, however, both Phil and Herc are nowhere to be seen whatsoever but it is possible that they were locked in the Kitchen with the other Disney Characters.
Video games[]
Hades Challenge[]
In Hades Challenge, Hercules has gone off to battle a giant, leaving Greece devoid of a hero. With Hades cooking up trouble, Zeus orders Phil to find and train a new hero to substitute for Herc. Phil takes in the player, but Hades tries to sabotage their training and eventually kidnaps Phil as a last resort. By that point, the player has proved his might as a hero and manages to defeat Hades, thus rescuing Phil just in time for Hercules' return.
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Phil is a recurring series in the game featured in his homeworld Olympus Coliseum. Like the film, he's featured as the grumpy trainer for Hercules and once he encounters Sora, Donald, and Goofy, he shares their passion in wanting them to succeed and become true heroes.
He first appears in the original Kingdom Hearts, set after Hercules becomes a true hero, where he refuses Sora access to the coliseum games on account of the fact that he isn't a true hero. Sora challenges Phil and offers to show his skills, and nearly succeeds until Cerberus arrives and attacks. Phil escapes, leaving Hercules to defeat the beast, but upon hearing of Phil's anxiety, Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter the arena and defeat Cerberus, proving to Phil what they're capable of. As a reward, Phil dubs the trio junior heroes.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Phil reunites with Sora and friends, happy to see them, but claims they still haven't got what it takes. At this time, Hercules has been fighting beast after beast without much rest, rendering him weak and upon eventual defeat. To help, Phil goes into the Underworld to find an "understudy" of sorts for the hero, wanting him to take a break from the action to rest up. He's instead attacked by Demyx, a member of an evil group known as Organization XIII. During the climax of the visit, Phil assists in the battle against the bloodthirsty Hydra. During the world's second visit, Sora and company finally earn their titles as true heroes, much to Phil's joy, though he tries to hide the proud tears.
Phil returns as a figment of Sora's memories in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as the trainer of Roxas in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and in data form in Kingdom Hearts coded.
Phil makes a larger appearance in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Set ten years before Sora, Phil is trainer a juvenile Hercules when he meets the wisecracking young fighter, Zack, who wishes to become a hero, begging Phil to train him. Phil claims he'll watch the two students (being Zack and Hercules) battle and decide from there. In the end, though, it's revealed that Phil never intended on leaving Herc in the dust, as he merely felt the young Demi-god had been slacking lately and used Zack as a way to boost his effort.
In Kingdom Hearts III, Phil plays a minor non-speaking role in the game than his previous appearances (due to the passing of his Japanese actor, Ichirō Nagai). He is first seen riding on Pegasus with Meg and see Thebes set ablaze from the Heartless attack. Hercules tells Phil to take care of Meg to which he nods in response and flies off on Pegasus. Later after Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules defeat the Rock Troll Heartless, Phil is present with Meg and Pegasus and grows concerned when the clouds on Mt. Olympus darken before Pegasus flies off again. In the game's credits, Phil is present in Thebes and is seen waving to the townsfolk cheering for Hercules with a reconstruction of the Hercules statue.
Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition[]
Phil appears in the form of a costumed townsperson in the game in which he serves as a host in the toy box, teaching players how to use various attacks.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode[]
Phil in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Phil is a playable character in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. He is Back-line Support hero. Phil's abilities are focused to train one of the choiced allies to heal as well as granting them various buffs, he has similar mechanism to Megara's as he links to that ally allowing to help them. Phil's basic attack is throwing one of three random object at specific probability, each causing different effect:
- The Vase has a 40% chance to be thrown and Knocks Back enemies hit.
- The Column has a 30% chance to be thrown and Stuns enemies hit for three seconds.
- The Helmet has a 20% chance to be thrown and steals 200 Energy from the enemy, granting it to Phil and his Linked ally.
- The Trophy has a 10% chance to be thrown which deals a bonus Normal Damage and applies all three special effects from the other items.
Phil has friendship campaign with Honey Lemon and Mike Wazowski. He also has friendship campaigns with Prince Phillip and Luz Noceda.
Disney Dreamlight Valley[]
A statue of Phil can be purchased from Scrooge's store.
Disney Parks[]
Phil, posing for a photo at one of the Disney parks.
Though Phil was once a regular at the Disney theme parks, his appearances became less frequent in the 2000s and are now extremely rare.
Disneyland Resort[]
Phil currently makes no appearances in California, though he has appeared in the Hercules Victory Parade in the late 1990s, as well as Disneyland's version of Fantasmic! in 1997, riding the Mark Twain Riverboat.
Walt Disney World[]
During the original release of the film, an animatronic Phil was seen in the Hercules: Zero to Hero parade in Disney's Hollywood Studios, as the star of his very own, gym-themed float.
Phil also has a small cameo appearance in the bubble montage during Disney's Hollywood Studios' version of Fantasmic!.
Phil also played a role in the former DisneyQuest attraction, Hercules in the Underworld.
Disneyland Paris[]
In France, Phil continues to make occasional appearances at Disneyland Paris.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Aboard the Disney Wonder, Phil played a role in the discontinued, Broadway-style adaptation of Hercules: Hercules: The Muse-ical.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Animator Eric Goldberg used the character Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a basis for Phil during creation.
- Phil bears a striking resemblance to his original voice actor Danny DeVito, and is a caricature of DeVito himself.
- Phil's character is somewhat inspired by Pan, the God of Nature. Pan is the same species as Phil, and they have a tendency to chase after Nymphs, like what Phil was doing when Hercules first met him. However, the Nymphs would always run from Pan due to his hideous face, with some even being turned into trees to keep them away from Pan. This also happened to Phil.
- Before Danny DeVito was cast as Phil, Edward Asner, Ernest Borgnine, Dick Latessa, and Red Buttons all auditioned for the role. Buttons also suggested DeVito for the role.[1]
- Though being a rather slow mover (occasionally), he is occasionally seen to be very skilled in acrobatic actions and agility both in the film and the animated series. In the animated series, it was noted that his agility even exceeds young Hercules.
- Phil's function as a satyr comic sidekick references the ancient Greek theatrical tradition of satyr plays, farcical retellings of myths throwing in satyr characters for comic relief.
- Although Phil and Hades are enemies and have noticed each other for a bit (Phil when he discovers Meg works for him, Hades saying "Geez Louise, what's got HIS goat, huh?"), they never interact.
- Apparently the residents of Thebes remember Phil as they recall him the one who trained Achilles.
- Phil is based heavily on Chiron, the centaur who trained many heroes, such as Heracles/Hercules.
- There is a scene where Phil quotes the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy; when a biker speeds by, Phil shouts, "Hey! I'm walkin' here!"
External links[]
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