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Cerberus is a (usually) three-headed dog guarding the underworld in ancient Greek mythology. He is the offspring of Echidna, a half-woman half-snake monster, and Typhon, a giant with many serpentine heads. Many of Cerberus' siblings had multiple heads as well, like the Chimera, Hydra and the two-headed dog Orthrus. Due to his parents serpetine nature, Cerberus is often described as having a snake as a tail and/or multiple snakes protruding from his body. He guards the underworld and welcomes new arrivals with excitement but would eat anyone trying to leave without permission.

The ancient Greek hero Heracles killed his own wife and children after he was driven mad by Hera. He traveled to the Oracle of Delphi to ask how he could atone for his sins. He had to serve King Eurystheus for twelve years during which the king gave him twelve labors which were all deemed impossible. The final one of the labors was to capture Cerberus and bring him to the king. So, with the help of the gods Hermes and Athena, Heracles traveled to the underworld. There, he met Theseus, founder of Athens, and Pirithous, who were both bound to the chair of forgetfulness by Hades for trying to steal his wife Persephone. Heracles could only save Theseus, as Pirithous was doomed to stay behind as he still desired Persephone for himself.

When Hercules found Hades, he asked permission to bring Cerberus to the surface. Hades agreed if he can master the dog without using his shield or iron, so Hercules used his cape made out of the skin of the Nemean Lion, another one of Cerberus' siblings Heracles had to kill during his twelve labors, to shield him, a wooden club and arrows with a tip made of stone. Subduing the beast, Heracles carried Cerberus out of the underworld using the exit in todays north-eastern Turkey. Not being used to the surface and sunlight, Cerberus spit poisonous bile, causing an abundance of poisonous plants all over the area. Heracles paraded Cerberus all over Greece before showing him to Eurystheus to finish his labor and return Cerberus back to the underworld.

In later iterations outside of ancient Greece, Cerberus was linked with gluttony and would devour those who were convicted of the sin. He would also often appear as a reference or an enemy or type of enemy in video games and other media.

Kemono Friends' Cerberus' first and only appearance so far was in a tweet from the 12th of October, alongside Jack-o'-lantern and common vampire bat. She has cyan shiny eyes, wears blue eye liner and has a blue scar across her right eye. She has long, messy dark purple hair that fades to black towards the tips and has a distinctive black color on the middlemost bang. Her hair is arranged in a pair of twin tails, each of them resembling a dog head with shiny cyan eyes, complementing that look with spiked hair bands that resemble a pair of spike chokers. She has a pair of pointy black-tipped animal ears and a serpent tail, showing a large portion of fur at the start of it and a smaller one at the tip. Cerberus wears a black bandeau top with three ribbons of different colors attached to it: purple, violet and blue, with the violet one having longer laces. She wears long black fingerless gloves with fold-over cuffs and a black spike choker with a name tag in the shape of a bone that says 'Japari Hell' on it. On the bottom, she wears black ripped shorts, black pantyhose with a pair of belts on her thighs and black lace-up spiked boots. Cerberus and Jack-o'-Lantern are the first UMA friends from western mythology.