Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon

Taneal uses seduction to extract information from King Phaleg of Assyria. After he arrives with gifts offering riches for Babylon's slaves, she discovers his true motive: he wants to find Queen Asparia and marry her to forge a united empire of Assyria and Hellas. Knowing this threatens her siblings' rule, she and her brothers plot to stop him.

Earlier, the siblings grew suspicious of Phaleg's generous offer, suspecting he sought to raise an army from the enslaved population.

Hercules switches sides because it gives him direct access to Babylon where Asparia is held captive. By saving Phaleg's life during the ambush and swearing loyalty, he gains passage into the city under the guise of retrieving Asparia for the Assyrian king. This positioning ultimately allows him to locate and rescue the queen.

Hercules came to Babylon specifically to free Asparia, so aligning with her enemies was a tactical choice to reach her.

The massive subterranean wheel serves as the structural support for the entire city of Babylon. Taneal plans to use it to loot the city and trigger its collapse, destroying Babylon's foundations entirely. When Hercules begins turning the wheel during his rescue, it threatens to bring the city crashing down.

Taneal's scheme to topple Babylon was hinted at when she plotted to destroy the city from within.

Salman Osar murders his brother Azzur in a bid for sole power and control over Queen Asparia. Both brothers were competing to win Asparia's hand in marriage to strengthen their position, and Salman chose eliminate his sibling to remove the competition and claim greater authority.

Earlier, both Salman Osar and Azzur were plotting to marry Asparia themselves, creating tension between the brothers.

When Assyrian escorts attempt to take Asparia to King Phaleg, Taneal steps in and captures the queen for herself. With her brothers dead and the city in chaos, taking Asparia hostage gives Taneal leverage and a bargaining chip to solidify her own position amid the crumbling political landscape.

Taneal had already shown willingness to use Asparia as a political tool throughout her schemes.

After Hercules defeats Phaleg's forces and the battle concludes, Taneal faces imminent capture and judgment. Rather than be taken prisoner or face trial for her crimes, including orchestrating the city's destruction and holding the queen hostage, she chooses to drink poison and end her own life.

Taneal's ruthless determination to maintain power at any cost throughout the film foreshadows her refusal to surrender.

Phaleg seeks to marry Asparia, the Queen of the Hellenes, to create a powerful empire uniting Assyria and Hellas. By taking her as his wife and using her royal status, he could claim legitimacy over both kingdoms and build a vast empire far stronger than either could be alone.

Taneal learned during her interrogation that Phaleg intended to find Asparia and make her his queen to bind the two nations.

The three sibling rulers grow suspicious of Phaleg's generous offer to pay richly for all of Babylon's slaves. They suspect his true intention is to liberate the enslaved population and raise a mighty army from them, an army large enough to threaten and potentially overthrow their rule over Babylon.

The rulers' wariness was established early when they received Phaleg's suspiciously lavish gifts.

Hercules begins turning the giant wheel to create chaos and confusion during his rescue of Asparia. The immediate threat of the city collapsing forces everyone's attention on survival rather than stopping his escape. While dangerous, this calculated risk allowed him to leverage the panic to get closer to the queen.

Hercules had already demonstrated willingness to take bold actions to complete his rescue mission.

After killing his brother Azzur in their power struggle, Salman Osar attempts to murder his sister Taneal as well. However, the palace is already destabilized from the chaos of the battle and the wheel being turned. Salman is crushed by falling debris and rubble while lunging at his sister, dying in the same violent ambition that led him to kill his own brother.

Salman's ruthless pursuit of sole power, including killing his brother, set him on a path of escalating violence.

After saving Phaleg's life during the ambush by the Babylonian siblings, Phaleg forces Hercules to swear a binding oath of loyalty before dispatching him to retrieve Asparia. Hercules had no choice but to comply, though his true loyalty remained with rescuing Asparia for the Hellenes, not serving Assyrian ambitions.

Hercules was already determined to free Asparia, making the oath a necessary sacrifice to get inside Babylon.