Wonder Woman has been a household name for decades, but lesser known is her mother Hippolyta. Queen of the Amazons and leader of Themyscira, Hippolyta has lived for thousands of years and fought alongside the Greek gods. Like her fellow Amazonians, she's fantastically strong and durable and has even taken her daughter Diana's place as Wonder Woman, joining both the Justice Society and Justice League. Without her guidance, Diana wouldn't be half the hero she is today. That's not to say that Hippolyta is perfect or doesn't make mistakes, but her example made Diana into a better hero.
Hippolyta has been around for a long time and not everything about her makes sense. This list is going to look at those things.
10 Getting Fooled By Granny Goodness
After Amazons Attack (more on that later), Hippolyta was banished to Themyscira to live alone after the rest of the Amazons are scattered throughout the Earth by the goddess Athena, someone that Hippolyta has known for millennia. However, it was really Granny Goodness all along.
Now, Hippolyta knows Athena rather well. Would she fooled by Granny Goodness masquerading as Athena? Definitely not and it's doubtful that Granny would be able to pull off the disguise well enough to fool anyone who has been as intimately acquainted with the gods as Hippolyta.
9 Letting Diana Leave Themyscira
Hippolyta was against Diana going to Man's World as the Themysciran ambassador and barred her from the contest that she had set up that would choose who would leave the island. Diana disguised herself and got into the contest, winning it and going into Man's World as the champion of the Amazons.
Here's the thing- it's not like Themyscira is a democracy. It's not only a monarchy, but one where all of the inhabitants are in the military and know that following orders wins battles and keeps soldiers alive. No one would have batted an eyebrow if Hippolyta would have refused her daughter and there's no reason for Hippolyta to go along with the whole thing anyway.
8 Trusting Hercules
One of Hercules's 12 Labors was getting the Girdle of Hippolyta. He and an army of his followers attacked but they were rebuffed by Hippolyta and the Amazons. Hercules and his men offered the Amazons peace and they accepted, which would be a huge mistake as Heracles and his forces did terrible things to the unprepared Amazons.
Hercules wasn't exactly known for being a stable, trustworthy man so Hippolyta allowing herself to be fooled by him makes no sense for her. Sure, she had a crush on him but Hippolyta letting that cloud her judgement makes no sense.
7 The Invisible Plane
Unlike her daughter Wonder Woman, Hippolyta can't fly. Back in the pre-Flashpoint, post-Crisis DC Universe (DC continuity needs a roadmap), it was revealed that Hippolyta was the Golden Age Wonder Woman, joining the Justice Society in their fight against Nazis. This makes her the originator of the Invisible Plane.
The Invisible Plane is just so ridiculous. The fuselage itself is invisible, but the pilot isn't. It looks like they're sitting on nothing and flying. Hippolyta should have known better than to use something like this.
6 How Many Times Themyscira Has Been Removed From The World
As leader of Themyscira, Hippolyta makes all the important decisions about the island and one decision she's made on more than one occasion is to remove the island from the world, sometimes to protect it from attack, other times just because. Eventually, though, she always brings it back.
Hippolyta is not a flighty person. When she makes a decision she sticks to it, even if the outcome is something she couldn't foresee. For her to do the same thing over and over again makes no sense.
5 Peace At Swordpoint
One of the whole points of the contest to send someone to Man's World was to teach the outside world the peaceful ways of the Amazons. Really, though, are the Amazons so peaceful? It's an entire society known for their martial skill throughout the ages and they're constantly training to fight. They are peaceful with each other but are constantly ready for battle.
It kind of makes no sense that she sends someone out to teach the Amazonian ways of peace when the Amazonian ways of peace are just protecting one's nation state.
4 Her Treatment Of The Amazons Of Bana-Mighdall
The Amazons of Bana-Mighdall had once lived on Themyscira, but left after Hippolyta refused to take vengeance against Hercules and his forces. Eventually, they would return to Themyscira and Hippolyta would lead the other Amazons of Themyscira in treating them badly.
The only difference between the two groups of Amazons was that they lived in two different cities for a long time. Other than that, they were pretty much the same group of people and Hippolyta not treating them as equals goes against other tenets that Hippolyta supposedly espoused.
3 Abandoning Her People
Besides being the Wonder Woman of the Golden Age, Hippolyta had also taken Diana's place as Wonder Woman in the present as well. She was still technically the leader of the Themyscira at this time, but enjoyed being a superhero so much that she stayed away from the island, shirking her leadership responsibilities.
Hippolyta is not the type to abdicate her responsibilities in such a way. If anything she would find a way to balance both roles.
2 Trusting Circe
So, Amazons Attack. Probably the worst DC event book of them all, it was all started because Hippolyta trusted Circe. Circe told Hippolyta that the US government had imprisoned Diana so Hippolyta and the Amazons attacked. The government hadn't and Hippolyta's actions led to all kind of bad things.
Hippolyta should have known better than to ever trust Circe. Her whole thing is being deceitful and trying to gain more power. She's inherently untrustworthy.
1 Lying To Diana
For years, Diana thought that her mother had made her from magic clay and that the gods had given her a soul as a reward for Hippolyta. However, the truth was much different- Hippolyta, like many figures from Greek myth, had an affair with Zeus and Diana was his daughter. Eventually, Hera found out and it was bad for everyone.
Now, keeping it secret from Themyscira makes sense, but not telling Diana is putting her in danger and Hippolyta is constantly trying not to put her daughter in danger. It just makes no sense why she would lie to her.