Cerberus gave the name "Cerberus" to a genus of Asian snakes, which are commonly called "dog-faced water snakes" in English. Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; "Kerberos" ), often called the "hound of Hades", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including
The Gates of Thorbardin are of a different race than I am, very much to life to make them as much as possible three-dimensional people and show them as being the best of what they are, and not necessarily the best of what they would be if they were human." Parkinson says that the book is essentially "the story of Chane, a Thorbardin dwarf, and his quest to find the Helm of Grallen and to seal the secret entrance of Thorbardin against incursion by magic". The major plotline of The Gates of Thorbardin is that there once existed a hidden entrance to the Dwarven