But only in the Roman version. In the original Greek version she was just a monster. That’s also the only way the other gorgons make sense (because they are explicitly Medusa’s sisters and have the same power set, except they are immortal on top).

Then a couple of centuries later comes the Roman author Ovid and adds a retelling of the story to his works. And just like Hollywood does today with their remakes he decides to add a tragic backstory to his new version.

And now a couple more centuries later a lot of people believe that’s the “real” version.