highmidvoiddemon

[highmidvoiddemon]

Can we please appreciate Odysseus being a silent stalker in the shadows, taking out suitors with his bow, not deigning to speak to them as he takes them out one by one

until some of them go "we have to strike him in the darkness too! we know the halls of this palace! the odds can be tilted!"

and Odysseus, built this palace with his very hands, has to step out of the shadows like "are you this fucking stupid"

[highmidvoiddemon]

Conflicting character development

Alternatively

"When your mom is a better grandma than she was a parent"

[highmidvoiddemon]

...he'll get there eventually

[highmidvoiddemon]

[highmidvoiddemon]

Odysseus

[highmidvoiddemon]

Jorge did an excellent job in showing Penelope's character and why Odysseus and Penelope are made for each other in two songs

Of course throughout the whole saga we are told Odysseus loves Penelope more than anything, she and Telemachus are his one life line and one motivation to getting home

But when we finally heard Penelope, in her two actual songs (by that I mean not counting Ody's hallucinations and the siren), we are shown why

In the challenge, she's smart, shown by her weaving and unweaving the shroud, and in setting a challenge that she knows only Odysseus can complete once she suspects he's close to home. She's steadfast in her love, never faltering in the face of 108 strong men taunting her, and pressuring her every single day. She's a queen, holding herself with dignity and authority. She's an amazing woman.

In Would You Fall In Love With Me Again, she once again demonstrates her intellect both logically and emotionally by testing Odysseus with the wedding bed. Then she breaks down in tears and anger letting go of all the pain and suffering and longing and yearning and agony she's gone through in the past 20 years. She was in so much pain and agony, but she kept waiting.

This is a story about a man who moved mountains and seas for his love and a woman who stood still in the midst of storms and terrors for hers.

[highmidvoiddemon]

Can we please appreciate Odysseus being a silent stalker in the shadows, taking out suitors with his bow, not deigning to speak to them as he takes them out one by one

until some of them go "we have to strike him in the darkness too! we know the halls of this palace! the odds can be tilted!"

and Odysseus, built this palace with his very hands, has to step out of the shadows like "are you this fucking stupid"

[highmidvoiddemon]

Jorge did an excellent job in showing Penelope's character and why Odysseus and Penelope are made for each other in two songs

Of course throughout the whole saga we are told Odysseus loves Penelope more than anything, she and Telemachus are his one life line and one motivation to getting home

But when we finally heard Penelope, in her two actual songs (by that I mean not counting Ody's hallucinations and the siren), we are shown why

In the challenge, she's smart, shown by her weaving and unweaving the shroud, and in setting a challenge that she knows only Odysseus can complete once she suspects he's close to home. She's steadfast in her love, never faltering in the face of 108 strong men taunting her, and pressuring her every single day. She's a queen, holding herself with dignity and authority. She's an amazing woman.

In Would You Fall In Love With Me Again, she once again demonstrates her intellect both logically and emotionally by testing Odysseus with the wedding bed. Then she breaks down in tears and anger letting go of all the pain and suffering and longing and yearning and agony she's gone through in the past 20 years. She was in so much pain and agony, but she kept waiting.

This is a story about a man who moved mountains and seas for his love and a woman who stood still in the midst of storms and terrors for hers.

[highmidvoiddemon]

athena and ody’s reunion is so meaningful to me and makes me want to gnaw on cement because they switched world views. they’ve both grown in opposite directions with athena now believing in empathy and having a more hopeful desire for the future while ody can’t return to the optimism he used to hold - only the coldness and hardness towards the world that he’s come to know. they learned from each other but not in the ways either expected and it’s pushed them to different ends of a spectrum where they’re more like how the other used to be

[highmidvoiddemon]

The Ithaca saga made me to emotional to sleep so I decided to sketch Athena

[highmidvoiddemon]

I genuinely can’t listen through Athena and Odysseus’s reunion without tearing up.

The way Athena is so regretful and remorseful about how she left Odysseus and how terrible those consequences were to them both. How she wishes for the world Odysseus once hoped for as well, full of empathy.

But how Odysseus can no longer see that world as a potential reality, at least in his time. He’s been through too much at the hands of monsters, including his own. He’s irreparably changed, but even still, he encourages Athena to see to that change through her immortal life. She can help bring that change in the distant future.

And that’s just… that’s the time we’re in. We’re in a world far from myths, historic figures and legends, in a very different society. Like the goddess, we all have the potential to help bring Athena’s wish for more empathy into this world. It starts with us, and will only happen when we bring more empathy, compassion, and understanding for each other into this world.

That’s such a beautiful message for this musical to leave us with, when the primary theme of this entire story is how far ruthlessness has taken this man who is desperate to make it home. Ruthlessness is not meant to be the solution, we should hope for a more understanding and peaceful world. We should do our best to greet our world with open arms, where we can.

Anyway, I’m just going to go back to crying.

[highmidvoiddemon]

moments from the Ithaca saga that obliterated me:

Penelope's voice. just getting to hear her as herself for the first time is so impactful after all this time!

Telemachus' arrival being accompanied by Athena's motif !! warrior of the mind !!

Odysseus calling Telemachus "my boy" melts my heart

WHEN TELEMACHUS AND ODY HUG and the entirety of I Can't Help but Wonder. I kind of anticipated the reunion with Telemachus even more than Penelope, since we know Telemachus better as a character. and it was SO satisfying!!

Telemachus did fight the monsters and he did find his father!!

the lyric change from "sorrow's all I've known" to "I've wondered if you'd embrace me as your own" ouch ouch ouch TELEMACHUS

"Show yourself, I know you're watching me" aughhhh

ATHENA AND ODY'S REUNION BEING SO BRIEF AND BITTERSWEET AUGHH. I really really wish we got more time to unpack this and have a longer conversation between them but I love that they didn't instantly reconcile ! because they've both changed so much in the last 10 years, now they're on opposing ends of the ruthlessness-open arms ideologies, and can't be the same person they once were

Penelope being the resolution to the monster arc !! she essentially tells him that he is still the same person even if he's done horrible things !! that she still loves him !!

OLIVE TREE WEDDING BED REFERENCE

THE LAST WORDS OF THE ENTIRE MUSICAL BEING "I LOVE YOU"

AAAAAAAAAAAA

[highmidvoiddemon]

Alien crew mate, finding human crew mate lying on the floor: Are you alright?

Human crew mate: Yeah I'm just chillin.

Alien crew mate: Oh, you're cold? Do you need a blanket?

Human crew mate: No I'm good.

Alien crew mate, confused but supportive: Ok just let me know when you're done being cold for the day.

[highmidvoiddemon]

And I've been waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...

...You.

[highmidvoiddemon]

the madlad made it home

[highmidvoiddemon]

[highmidvoiddemon]

it’s missing alex hours