oul2001

[oul2001]

I have something to say about that and I might later

okay but seriously if odysseus had brought more food with him on his ship, then they would’ve never had to stop on the lotus eater’s island (idk what the island is called so if anyone knows lmk)

[oul2001]

I... am having EPIC Thoughts. I read a post that talked about how Odysseus really isn't doing any better with ruthlessness than mercy, and I just started thinking, so... here you so. Yes, I'm writing an essay now, you're welcome, I am 'That Guy' in every fandom I'm in ever, yes.

Ruthlessness and Mercy: Would It Matter? An EPIC: The Musical Study

In short... no. No, it really wouldn't.

From the beginning, the conflict was never about ruthlessness or mercy; it was always about the will of the gods. It never mattered whether Odysseus was merciful or ruthless or prideful or what-have-you, insert-chosen-character-trait-or-flaw-here-- the only thing that mattered was if he was obeying the gods, if he had angered them or not. Odysseus wasn't the problem in The Odyssey, at least at the start.

(This is not me saying the man doesn't have or cause problems, because he definitely does, but the overarching problem of The Odyssey isn't about Odysseus.)

Think about it. Several of the gods had decided --at least, in The Odyssey-- to make Odysseus' life a living nightmare. The reason for this seems to vary, but it's there. So right there, no matter what he did, what choices he made, the outcome was already decided for him. He was doomed from the start and didn't even know it.

See, here's the thing, about the Greek gods: Most of them really don't care about mortals any more than most humans care about insects. Interesting on occasion, but usually just something to ignore. And then you have the people who like to torment them, to pull off their wings and legs and watch them suffer and squirm-- those are the gods who involved themselves in the Trojan War. They weren't interested in the affairs of mortals in that they didn't care about the cause of the war, only that it was something interesting to do to break up the monotony of their daily lives up on Mount Olympus, a chance to show off and compete with one another and settle old scores. (I'm particularly upset about Aphrodite. Like, seriously, who just kidnaps some poor woman to marry off to a random guy she's never even met? I mean, c'mon, you're a literal goddess, you couldn't've just... y'know, made a person out of clay instead of kidnapping someone who already had a husband and family? Goodness.)

But anyway. Let's take a hypothetical, shall we? Let's say that Odysseus didn't show Polyphemus mercy, when Athena said to kill him. Do you really think Poseidon would've been any less angry about a dead descendant than a blinded one? I mean, even in this same tale the gods were known for taking vengeance on those who wronged their descendants, and being dead is definitely worse of a wrong than being blind, at least in my humble opinion.

Then, let's take into consideration who exactly killed him: that'd be Odysseus, King of Ithaca and all of that... and a champion of Athena. Now, this might or might not be common knowledge, but Poseidon and Athena competed extensively for the patronage of the city of Athens, and Poseidon lost, badly; that isn't the kind of slight he'd forget easily. (I mean, an olive tree is a food source, though, so... sorry, but it's definitely more useful than a salty spring from the salty man of the sea. Thanks, but no thanks.)

In EPIC, Odysseus had at least defied Athena, so she'd left him by the time Poseidon could discover what exactly he'd done, and thus wasn't responsible for defending her former champion; however, in a Ruthless hypothetical, he'd done exactly as she'd said, and now she had a predicament on her hands: Abandon the champion who had obeyed her to the letter, or face the wrath of Poseidon herself, too?

In The Odyssey, Athena abandons Odysseus to face the wrath of Poseidon by himself, so as not to incur her uncle's ire as well. So in our hypothetical, she would likely have abandoned Odysseus here too. The only thing that would change would be the guilt.

Why is that?

Well, to put it simply, there isn't a way for Odysseus to not incur Poseidon's wrath here. Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, and Odysseus --in order to save the lives of himself and as many of his men as he can-- will do him harm. Poseidon, as Polyphemus' father --whether a good one or not--, is responsible for avenging a slight against his bloodline. Athena, due to Odysseus' actions, will leave him.

Perhaps --straying from the question of ruthlessness and mercy-- if Odysseus hadn't said his name, if pride or anger or stress or whatever interpretation of it you take hadn't influenced his decision, Poseidon might not have learned who was responsible for the act. But then again, who else was sailing the sea --Poseidon's domain, about which he knew every detail-- in that exact area at that exact time, with a captain clever enough to give his name as Nobody so as to not reveal himself, with a sudden influx of stolen sheep on their ships where Polyphemus the shepherd had lost his?

Really, though, that isn't relevant. The question was if it would make a difference whether he was ruthless or merciful, and honestly... I don't think it would make much of a difference. One way or another, his crew was going to die. One way or another, he was going to wind up alone. Do you think that his crew wouldn't have mutinied after yet another monster their captain had chosen to spare came back with a vengeance? Do you think they would have listened when he warned them about Helios' cows then?

Do you think a merciful Odysseus would've chosen his traitorous crew, his former friends, over the chance to see his wife and son again?

[oul2001]

Guys, literally Nobody asked for this.

He be looking real hard for anything to back up his story about Astyanax.

However I support forcing him onto honesty and therefore am against the idea.

u should draw pregnant odysseus, they told me you should, i believe you should, you should draw pregnant oddysseus

[oul2001]

Rebloged to have at fast reach for myself and all of you poor ignorants who do not know devinity.

watson's sketchbook

helloooo this is a MASTER POST of my Sherlock Holmes annotations, aka shitpost doodles of my favorite parts with occasional headcanons. I will pin this so it's available and update it as I go because this feels like it's becoming a full series, god help me.

I'm reading the stories in the order they occurred (according to Baring-Gould, who I am currently arm wrestling in the astral plane over how many wives Watson had) so that's how I will present them!

EDIT: decided to draw them in the order that makes sense to me, Baring-Gould you’re too silly

EDIT 2: this is basically a webcomic at this point, with ongoing continuity and a romantic storyline that can be enjoyed if you read in order. I did not intend this, but I have Sherlock Holmes disease and there's only one cure (doing this)

A Study in Scarlet 🩸

The Speckled Band 🐍

The Resident Patient 🩺

The Noble Bachelor 👰

The Second Stain 📮

The Reigate Squires 📝

The Dancing Men 👯‍♂️

Silver Blaze 🏇🏻

The Six Napoleons ⚫️

The Red Circle 🕯️🪟

The Greek Interpreter 🩹

Mycroft Interlude 🎩

The Beryl Coronet 🥪

The Yellow Face 🙂

The Hound of the Baskervilles 🐺

-Part One

-Part Two

-Part Three

-Part Four

-Part Five

-Part Six

-Part Seven

The Gloria Scott ⚓️

The Valley of Fear 🏰

-Part One

-Part Two

Shoscombe Old Place 🎣

Charles Augustus Milverton 💌

-Part One

-Part Two

-Part Three

-Part Four

-Part Five

The Copper Beeches ✂️

-Part One

-Part Two

[oul2001]

Yea they're the same picture, except that one of the pictures is CURSED.

[oul2001]

This crap tears me down.

I had not read Twilight, yet I did not expect such similarities of expression between a hopeless lovestruck awed doe-eyes and Bella Swan.

I mean.

A middle-aged victorian man and a modern teenage girl whose pupils are heart-shaped SHOULD NOT portray tall, dark and pale men the same manner. They are not allowed to because... What?

Bella's ENTIRE personality (or so I've heard) is to be madly in love with Eduard.

Watson on the other hand has self-respect.

So either Bella is not so creative in her narration, or Watson is so overheels that his way of obsession to this one man in his life was only muched a century later by a teenager that obsessing over another one man is the entire purpose of her very existence.

I fell for, like, 3 of those. As others have said, I at some point began to suspect that all of those are Watson's, then the one about sparkles threw me back and I had to go all over again.

Let's play... Bella or Watson?

While waiting for the next Letters from Watson email to arrive, fancy joining me in a little game of BELLA OR WATSON?

Some of these statements were written by Dr John H Watson about his friend Mr Sherlock Holmes. Some were written by Bella Swan about Edward, the hot teenage vampire from Twilight.

[IMG Silhouettes of Dr Watson and Bella Swan, text reads Watson or Bella]

(This was inspired by a tumblr post, but I'm afraid it's lost to the mists of ancient dash for me by now. Answers are under the cut!]

With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted [REDACTED], and [REDACTED].

glanced sideways at the beautiful [REDACTED], who was [REDACTED], [REDACTED] with long, pale fingers

His eyes were gloriously intense as he uttered that last sentence

I turned and he was leaning toward me, his pale, glorious face just inches from mine.

In the darkness he looked much more normal. Still pale, still dreamlike in his beauty, but no longer the fantastic sparkling creature of our sunlit afternoon.

In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing Watson or Bella?

His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. 

An instant later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were shivering.

It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. 

ANSWERS UNDER THE CUT

Question 1 - Watson

With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff.

Question 2 - Bella

I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers

Question 3 - Watson His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase

Question 4 - Bella His eyes were gloriously intense as he uttered that last sentence

Question 5 - Bella

I turned and he was leaning toward me, his pale, glorious face just inches from mine.

Question 6 - Bella

In the darkness he looked much more normal. Still pale, still dreamlike in his beauty, but no longer the fantastic sparkling creature of our sunlit afternoon

Question 7 - Watson

In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing

Question 8 - Watson

His face flushed and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. 

Question 9 - Watson

An instant later he pulled me back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his warning hand upon my lips. The fingers which clutched me were shivering.

Question 10 - Yup, still Watson

It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. 

[oul2001]

I swear, I simply have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go to and have literally no other people I know or care about, nor will I have in the seeming future as Sherlock Holmes is the most fantastic, fascinating person to ever enthusiasticly crawl on the face of this earth and I love him so.

No I haven't spoke to him for longer then two minutes at a time, It does not matter and is beside the point.

the funniest thing about the first sherlock holmes book is every time watson starts talking about sherlock for a while he stops and he's like dear reader i swear i'm normal about this man my new roommate it's only that i'm injured and if i wasn't injured i would be way more normal about him i swear please don't judge me

[oul2001]

Same

i have not been the same since i read “but storms, it was either this or start killing again. he raised the bottle to his lips.” it genuinely ruined my life

[oul2001]

Penelope: * gaslighting girl bossing the suitors into buying her wedding gifts despite having no intention of marrying them*

Odysseus, disguised as a beggar:

[oul2001]

Alright guys, hear me out:

When Epic finally gets on stage, there should be two levels to it. Like how in Hamilton, there’s the platform above the stage, kind of a like a balcony or walkway? And then it should be decorated to be like Olympus, and none of the humans or mortals ever go up there, it’s just the gods who sing down at all the measly heroes, and then sometimes they (mostly Athena) come down and actually talk to them, but most of the time it’s literally orders/reprimands coming from above.

[oul2001]

sketch i gave up on

[oul2001]

Odysseus: Hello! I’m here to offer my hand in marriage to Helen.

Leta: Welcome to Sparta! This is my daughter Helen, world famous for her beauty. And this is my creepy arts and crafts niece, Penelope.

Penelope: *hisses*

Odysseus: …

Odysseus: Change of plans. I want the weird girl.

[oul2001]

Still reading the Odyssey. How have I never seen anyone bring up a headcanon that Odysseus becomes scared shitless of the ocean after finally coming home to Ithaca? I'm talking mental-breakdown inducing phobia.

The man has spent TEN YEARS lost at sea. Each time he reached land, Poseidon was here to try to drown him. His twelve ships with six hundred men sunk. And later on, when Alcinoos' men sailed him back to Ithaca, Poseidon sunk that ship too. It just never ends. Odysseus has seen hundreds of men, friends, die at sea, he's been whipped by waves, choked by salt, he faced Charybdis on his own, nearly drowned more times than he can count, all of this to finally reach home knowing his journey has drowned hundreds of innocent people.

I'm telling you he'd never heal from that shit. After he finally reclaims the throne of Ithaca, maybe Telemachus mentions that some of his father's old friends are still waiting for news of him, that Nestor has no idea he managed to go home and that Menelaus weeps whenever he thinks of him.

So Odysseus agrees to follow his son to Pylos and Sparta, having to sail across the sea once again, and although the trip goes smoothly it's a living nightmare for Odysseus. The moment the ship departs, he prays Poseidon with all his might, begging him to spare his son. He can't stop puking and crying, choking on his own erratic breath, hallucinating and going paranoid. For a few days Telemachus really thinks he's fallen ill. The trip back is just as terrible and Telemachus has no idea how to comfort his father or to make him understand that the seas are safe for him now, as well as for all the people who travel with him.

Yet another reason why Odysseus needs to spend the rest of his life in a Penelope/Diomedes sandwich hug, I rest my case.

[oul2001]

Oh my god, YES, PLEASE.

Alternate ending of The Horse And The Infant;

Eurylochus: Captain. What is that

Odysseus, holding baby Astyanax, smiling: A gift from the gods! A boy for us to take back to Ithaca and for me to raise as my own. A token of our victory, if you will.

Polites: Not to doubt you, my friend and king, but is that not the baby the gods said you must kill?

Odysseus, with a slightly more strained smile: I am unsure what you mean, my friend. This is but a harmless babe.

Eurylochus: No, Captain, I remember Lord Zeus clearly saying he'll be the death of us all-

Odysseus, louder: I remember no such thing. Come, we must sail! Ithaca, my wife, my son, need us home.

Polites, to Eurylochus: Does he take us for blind?

Eurylochus: He takes us for loyal. Which we are, unfortunately.

[oul2001]

It's me! I did not listen to the songs as a whole saga, not in the right order, did not look at the songs' names, and in fact did not listen to half the words even after I fell in love with the music. And time by time, I learned another sentence and another dialog and another rhyme, and at some point I stopped and thought:

Wait, is this the Cyclope Polyphemus.

Is this the STORY of the cyclope?

OH. MY. GEESE.

This is the ODYSSEY.

This is the odyssey but in MUSIC.

I just realized that Remember Them is actually the first time we hear Odysseus's name in the show. Before that they address him exclusively as Friend, Captain or Just a Man. They could properly introduce him so many times. There's could be a moment in The Horse and the Infant. Polites could easily call him by his name in Open Arms. And for the love of gods Odysseus purposely doesn't reveal his name in Warrior of the Mind nor in Polyphemus. This is the moment when we hear his name. The moment the show actually name it's protagonist. In the moment of his hubris, the moment of pride and the moment that lead him to his own downfall later on, that the show focus on. LIKE IF THAT WAS A SHOW ON STAGE AND AUDIENCE ACTUALLY DIDN'T KNOW IT'S ABOUT THE ODYSSEY IT WOULD BE THE TIME THEY LEARN HIS NAME FOR THE FIRST TIME HOW COOL IS IT

[oul2001]

Hihi

Based on this post

[oul2001]

I am wheezing violently at a family gathering. Considering to build a giant wooden statue of me and sneak out into a separate room to keep reading.

Odysseus' Strategy Notebook

PLAN TO DEFEAT THE TROJANS

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

PLAN TO DEFEAT THE CYCLOPS

Build giant wooden horse spear and hide inside it stab the cyclops with it

PLAN TO ESCAPE THE CYCLOPS' CAVE

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build giant wooden SHEEP and hide inside it

Build a bunch of normal-sized sheep and hide in those

Skin real sheep and use them to make incredibly realistic sheep costumes

Ride the sheep out of the cave but upside-down so he doesn't find us

PLAN TO DEFEAT THE LASTER LAESYTR LESTRYG CANNIBAL GIANTS

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build giant wooden cannibal giant and hide inside it

Build giant wooden RUN

PLAN TO DEFEAT THE WITCH

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build giant wooden pig and hide inside it?

Build giant wooden d go with Hermes' plan

PLAN TO DEFEAT SCYLLA

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build wooden decoy sailors and hope she eats those DID NOT WORK

PLAN TO STOP MEN FROM EATING SACRED CATTLE

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build giant wooden cow and trick the men into eating it

Take a nap and come up with a better plan

PLAN TO ESCAPE CALYPSO'S ISLAND

Build giant wooden horse and hide inside it

Build wooden decoy statue of me and put it in her bed

Build giant wooden d

PLAN TO KEEP ODYSSEUS HERE FOREVER

Steal strategy notebook

Check for splinters just in case

PLAN TO SNEAK BACK INTO THE PALACE

Build giant wooden h

Disguise self as giant wooden beggar normal old beggar OKAY I GET IT NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A GIGANTIC WOODEN REPLICA I GET IT ALREADY sheesh Athena

GET THE SUITORS OFF MY BACK, PLAN B (THANKS A LOT MELANTHO)

Announce that I will marry whoever can string my husband's bow and shoot through wait this isn't my notebook

PLAN TO KILL THE SUITORS wait who scribbled in my notebook