#*later after they return home back in ithaca*

[o3o-lapd-o3o]

hdjlsjskdkdj yES

poseidon ain't giving ody a single reason for a second round of stabbings. no sir, not him.

now i just want scenarios of poseidon going out of his way to not potentially piss of odysseus or have him angry with the sea/ocean.

telemachus: *looking down at the sea from the ship*

telemachus: *gasps* father look! dolphins!

odysseus: *comes over to look* oh yes i see them!

telemachus: can i take a closer look?

odysseus: *mulling it over*

telemachus: pleeeeease?

odysseus: *is weak for his son* ok fine, but please stay close to the shi-

telemachus: *dives in*

odysseus: -p.

odysseus: *gives the sea a warning look, and then looks down at his son*

*nearby a shark has taken notice of the human jumping in the water*

*shark is getting closer. telemachus and odysseus have not noticed yet*

odysseus: *finally notices the moving water not too far infront of telemachus*

odysseus: *about to dive in the water to save his son* telem-

poseidon: *appearing out of nowhere in the water*

poseidon: *absolutely bodies the shark away from telemachus and the surrounding area*

odysseus:

telemachus: *who just saw a blur of something/someone hit a shark(?!) infront of him*

telemachus: what was tha-

odysseus: how about you come back on board now?

odysseus: it's getting late, and i think your mother will want us both back soon

telemachus: *gets back on the ship* *is confused again*

*after the events of the odyssey*

*telemachus and odysseus walking down to the docks, after odysseus said he'd go sailing with his son*

(listen the man had missed 20 years of his son's life, he could ask ody to dress in drag & do the hula and odysseus would already be shouting "LUAU" in a grass skirt before tele finished his sentence)

telemachus: i'm so excite- *looks ahead*

telemachus: *stops walking* oh no *sad noises*

odysseus: *still walking* what's wrong son?

telemachus: *points to the sea beyond ithaca's shores* poseidon must be angry today, look at the storm in the distance

odysseus: *looks ahead but without worry on his face* no need to worry, we can still go sailing, follow me

telemachus: *confused but follows his dad*

*both make it to the docks*

odysseus: you get started, i've just got something to do & then i'll join you on the ship

*telemachus hops on the ship and odysseus turns to face the sea*

odysseus: *red eyes activate* i'm. going. sailing. with . my. son.

*the sea storm dissipates in record speed*

odysseus: good.

odysseus: *red eyes deactivate*

odysseus: *turns to telemachus smiling like nothing happened* shall we go then?

telemachus: *happy but very confused*

telemachus: *mumbling to himself*what just happened?

[zarnzarn]

1/2/3/4

reverse Odyssey au where polites is still on the ships when Poseidon arrives, and that last bit is enough to push Odysseus to beg him to stop, to spare the men he spent ten long years fighting hard and bitter to save. 593 men is no less amount after all, not for a small island like Ithaca, only three generations old. he'll do anything, anything at all, blind him, torture him, kill him- just let his men go; they were not the ones to blame.

Poseidon considers, staring down at the king with the odd grey eyes that he knew the origin of. Athena would be furious, after all- so why not take away the one thing her favoured pet was known for?

the crew rushes towards their captain, their king, as shouting emerges from the other boats, as he hits the deck convulsing, grasping at his throat. the cries of his men rend the air as his legs melt into oceanspray, remerging as a fish's tail, Odysseus gasping for air wildly, his tongue a mess of mangled flesh on the main deck, unable to talk or breathe.

they have no choice but to pick him up and tip him into the sea, and they watch in horror as he falls beneath the waves and with a flick of the tail, disappears.

six hundred men chase their king down, following the odd silver glint that appears once in a while above the blue water, following the strange cursed monster that Elepnor sees when he falls drunk into the ocean one day. follow him all the way back to Ithaca, where the people gather on the shore to cheer their arrival.

telemachus is all of ten and untameable at the return of his father's ships, running past the guards and the priests to the dock, where the soldiers and heroes are all setting down the ramps, strangely quiet, unsmiling in the face of ten years of gore and bloodshed being done. Penelope catches up to him, laughing as she cranes her head up, scanning the ships to see which one- which one had-

she only has to time to see euroluchus' shame-filled tears and polites guilty devastation, feeling her heart slowly sink to the ground, when there's suddenly a splash and an outburst of screams and propped up on the dock is a man with a fish's tail and familiar curls and razor-sharp teeth and eyes that are solid grey. the soldiers cry out in horror and thunder down the ramps to them as the monster reaches out- and Penelope can't do anything, frozen, as it reaches out and places a webbed hand with deadly claws on her son's cheek, caressing almost; and her breath catches when it looks back up to her, and she knows the face as well as her own, knows the grief and fear and knows it is her husband-

Then the pounding footsteps from the closest ships and the guards behind reach them, and Penelope only has time enough to scream to stay their weapons, already shoving Telemachus behind her and reaching out to shield off any spears or arrows from battle-strung men who'd shoot first and ask questions later-

Instead she only feels the brush of cold skin under his fingertips for the briefest of moments and then she's caught up in a fisher's net, tangled and alone. More nets are thrown, men crying out for their captain with desperation and fear, Polites running straight past her and leaping off the dock to swim after him-

But her husband is a descendant of Hermes, and Odysseus is gone.

Penelope listens to the story that night and does not cry, sitting straight-backed in the face of her family sobbing around her, of the five hundred and ninety-three men staring at her with grief and guilt alike, of being the only widow in the kingdom. Pets Telemachus' wild hair and remembers his father's, and thinks.

"You have told me much," She says finally. "But I'm still to hear a single, solid plan."

The room rustles as all the heads swing to her.

"Plan?" Eurylochus says finally. Anger burns as soon she looks to him, but she pushes it down firmly- rage will not win her anything.

"Yes. A plan," she says, "To bring my husband back home."

Telemachus unfolds at her feet and stares up at her with a hopeful grin, echoed slowly on the faces of the men around the room. Penelope smiles back.

"My husband spent ten years fighting for his people to make it back home," She proclaims. "Let's wait at least that long before we give up on him, yes?"

The answering cheer shakes the walls of the palace and echoes through the streets of Ithaca.

[katerinaaqu]

The Tragedy of Odysseus (The Hero who ended up being alone/Thoughts from the void)

I believe one of the greatest tragedies in the character of Odysseus is not his arduous trip nor the deaths he experienced or even the trauma he went through or even the fact that he loved his family more than anything and somehow he couldn't be there for them for most of their lives.

Judging from my own experiences as well I should say one of the greatest tragedies in the homeric hero is the fact that he was alone. When I say alone I do not mean how he ended up alone after he lost his men and having to survive by himself. It was his technical abandonment by everything and everyone.

If someone reads the Iliad or the Odyssey Odysseus was respected and admired by many for his wits, his ability with words, his boldness to take action no one else dared, his diplomatic skills and many ore despite the fact he was also obviously disliked by many others for the same reasons. When he disappeared for over a decade, by the end of that (possibly the last 3-5 years) his house was swarmed by the suitors, his wealth being eaten away and his wife and son harassed constantly.

Yet no other king of his peers came to his assistance.

Odysseus came back after 20 years and sorted the matter himself. He roamed about the seas abandoned by all the gods he had ever worshipped and sorted things himself. He made sure justice prevailed and sorted it out himself. He clawed himself there alone. None of the other heroes was there to save or assist him for their own reasons

Fate was cruel to him and his peers. Kings that returned and found destruction in their home (for example Agamemnon) or suffered long and had no more energy to do anything (Menelaus) or had no real political power (Teucer) or faced their own tragedies (Diomedes) and yet even if there were people who had power or returned home (Nestor) none of the heroes ever went to Ithaca, none of them came to his assistance, none of them showed him their support and till the final year of his arduous trip, he barely had his gods by his side with the exception of Hermes who arrived by himself at Aeaea.

Menelaus and Nestor heard from Telemachus how terrible the situation was and yet neither of them sent help, support, ambassadors or anything for that matter and only expressed their disdain on the fact and the hubris Odysseus comitted had him at the bad side of the olympian gods (or at least them being unable to do something till the prophecies were fulfilled) till much later.

Odysseus probably knew everyone had their reasons for it but there is no more profound feeling of abandonment for a person than knowing you had supportive words all your life and yet when you needed it the most, no one was there for you. When you hear compliments for your achievements and support and admiration and yet when you need someone's support at most everyone has their reasons not to be there. All valid reasons I am sure but surely the worst feeling of abandonment is when you do not receive help from those you counted on the most.

[lyculuscaelus]

Telegony isn’t real unless it’s made of cloud—just consider the possibility where Circe created an image (eidolon) of Odysseus using cloud and they had a child (or three children) together. But Circe soon found this Odysseus somewhat lacking so she sent him away, leaving their child (or children) here on Aeaea. Cloud!Odysseus (or should I say Clodysseus) then roamed around in Italy before dropping off in Epirus where he found himself a new wife Callidice, and fought a war against the Bryges. Eighteen years later the death of Callidice reminded him of a home so distant that he never felt he had but now realized he needed it so much so he decided to go “back” to Ithaca. Meanwhile the half-cloud half-divine Telegonus went to search for his father and landed in Ithaca too. And upon seeing the Clodysseus who had just came to this island he mistook him as a guard and had a fight with him and stabbed him with that poisonous spear. Then Clodysseus dissipated after Telegonus realized that he stabbed his father, who only had the chance to give one glance at this home that would never be his.

Meanwhile the real Odysseus was suffering from trauma until the eighth year came and he got back to Ithaca and had his revenge and then went through the oar quest and once again returned chilling with his Penelope and Telemachus for the rest of his life, maybe going back to gardening or something, and somehow caught all of the drama in 360P that happened on that day, in the tenth year after his return.

[meusgrifos]

"I find myself turning back to the Odyssey more and more often. We always read it like an adventure novel. Later we came to understand that it was also a book about searching for the father. And, of course, a book about returning to the past. Ithaca is the past. Penelope is the past, the home he left is the past. Nostalgia is the wind that inflates the sails of the Odyssey. The past is not the least bit abstract; it is made up of very concrete, small things. When, after he spends seven happy years living with the nymph Calypso, she offers him immortality if he will stay with her forever, Odysseus nevertheless refuses. I’ve wondered about that myself, come on, let’s all be honest and say whether we’d turn that offer down. On the one side of the scale you’ve got immortality, an eternally young woman, all the pleasures of the world, and on the other you’ve got going back to where they hardly remember you, impending old age, a house besieged by hoodlums, and an aging wife. Which side of the scale would you choose? Odysseus chose the second. Because of Penelope and Telemachus, yes, but also because of something specific and trifling, which he called hearth-smoke, because of the memory of the hearth-smoke rising from his ancestral home. To see that smoke one more time. (Or to die at home and disperse like smoke from the hearth.) The whole pull of that returning is concentrated in that detail. Not Calypso’s body nor immortality can outweigh the smoke from a hearth. Smoke that has no weight tips the scale. Odysseus heads back."

— Giorgi Gospodinov, in "Time Shelter."

[howlermoonart]

Argos the Faithful (Art Print!)

So this will be is the very first art print for Howler Moon Art, a lil online art shop that will hopefully be launching in spring of 2025!!! I picked the concept pretty much randomly off of a list of ideas, but I had a bit of a nudge because I knew the story of Argos from The Odyssey and found it very emotional.

To summarize: Argos is Odysseus’ hunting dog. When Odysseus leaves to fight in the Trojan War, Argos is swift and strong and in his prime. Upon Odysseus’ return 20 years later, however, Argos is old and feeble. Odysseus, disguising himself as a pilgrim after reaching his home in Ithaca, is forced to ignore his faithful hound’s greeting (only Argos is able to recognize him after two decades of absence) so as to remain incognito. Shortly afterward, Argos’ heart gives out from sadness, and he dies.* Most stories about faithful dogs are sad ones, unfortunately; they don’t live as long as we do, regardless of how much we love them or how much they love us in return.

I wanted to capture an imagined scene from before Argos’ death, where Argos is watching the sea surrounding Ithaca and waiting for his master’s return from war. The Greek ship upon the waves below him is Odysseus’ vessel!

You can read about the development of this artwork below the cut.

Artwork Start/Completion: September 22, 2024 → September 30, 2024

Art Program: Clip Studio Paint PRO (ver 2)

Tablet: Huion H610 PRO V2

Font Used: MCapitals by Manfred Klein (link)

Brushes Used:

CSP default brushes

Cream Cheese Frosting by WholeMilk (link)

References Used:

Photo by Yorgas Ntrahas on Unsplash (link)

Photos of Cretan Hounds from the Greek Kennel Club website (linked below)

I first looked for digital brushes on the Clip Studio asset store that would make the meander for me, since I wasn’t sure of my skills. I didn’t find any that were within my means, however, so I just drew it myself with some of the default brushes in my Clip Studio Paint program. It turned out to be easier than I expected! The repetitive pattern is actually very soothing once you get the hang of it, and I like how the meander “keys” aren’t perfectly identical.

Ironically, it was only after I finished the meander that I found a collection of Greek pattern brushes that were free if not easy to use.

I gave Argos an epithet and labeled him in the print because I wasn’t sure if a casual viewer would recognize him from the artwork alone. Although most people are aware of the broad plot points of The Odyssey (such as “Nobody” slaying the cyclops), Argos’ part in that tale is a very minor one and comes toward the end.

As geographically inaccurate as it is, I based Argos’ design off of the Cretan Hound, a breed now recognized solely in Greece… and in Germany, for some reason. The other Greek breed I would see as apt for a nobleman’s hunting dog is the Hellenic Hound, but if I’m being perfectly honest the Hellenic Hound looks like a very generic hound to me, while the Cretan Hound’s spitz-y tail and upright ears are more visually appealing for me personally. The upright ears give the dog an air of alertness that I really like, on top of just being so cute!

For a while I was worried that the warm, rusty terracotta color of the border would clash with the much softer palette of the scene with Argos looking out over the sea, so I hid those layers of the artwork and constructed another, more elaborate border with stone columns meant to be reminiscent of Greek temples entrances. This time, I got to use the Greek pattern brushes that I had downloaded previously!

However, the columns and wave border take up too much space within the landscape-oriented A5 print, so after much fiddling with resizing various elements of the border, I decided to go back to the simpler terracotta look. 

I was a bit frustrated with myself letting myself go down this rabbit hole, since it took at least 3 hours to create a border that I ended up not using. (I know the time because I watched the entirety of the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie with my partner while drawing, and then we got partway through Ralph Bakshi’s 1983 animated movie, Fire and Ice, before I went to bed and was able to mull over my artistic choices).

I had initially been very nervous to draw Odysseus’ ship. I knew it would be tiny and therefore details weren’t terribly important, but I also knew it was a trireme (a warship of Ancient Greece) and I had never drawn a boat before this. I learned about the Olympias, a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme that is currently in the service of the Greek navy, and got to ogle pictures of her while I hyped myself up for the task of drawing another of her kind… which, in the end, took less than twenty minutes.

* This version of events with Argos dying specifically from sadness isn't from a "real" translation, but rather from the version that my dad told me as a kid before bedtime.

[generouskittentidalwave]

So I mentioned before that it is never said whether Polites lived or died, which is good as you can then make his story however you want. Going off of that, my headcanon is that Polites got seperated from Odysseus after the ship got struck by Zeus, and I am going to elaborate a bit on that.

So as we all know Polites probably wouldn't have eaten the cattle seeing as he is Odysseus's bestest friend and most loyal crewmate, and I can honestly imagine Polites trying his best to reason with Eurylochus that they shouldn't be going against their friend's orders and going behind his back, but to no avail. I can honestly imagine Eurylochus forcing Polites to choose between following him or following Odysseus and Polites ultimately chooses to follow Odysseus (fanfic writers there is an intresting writing prompt for you).

After that, Odysseus returns and is rightfully pissed off about the eaten cattle. Polites feel shame that he couldn't stop them, despite Odysseus reassuring him that none of it is his fault. Well later on, when the boat gets struck by Zeus, all but Odysseus and Polites are killed, and Odysseus and Polites unfortunately get separated.

So I imagine Polites ended up on an island and met some nice people that lived there and stayed with them, learning new things from them and everything for a while as he worked to figure out a way back to Ithaca, as he knows that if Odysseus lived then he must be on his way to Ithaca, or already there. This would parallel Odysseus's situation as he also ends up on and island, however he gets the bad instead of the good as he is forced be Calypso's lover and trapped on an island for 7 years. Both had to make the choice to leave their new homes to go back to their old one and reunite once more.

Odysseus obviously gets to Ithaca firsts and reclaims his place as king of ithaca, and then Polites shows up not long after the fight and the two finally reunite with eachother.

That's just my idea on it but I will be sticking to this idea for eternity

[insipid-drivel]

THERE IS A REAL REASON ODYSSEUS DIDN'T GET HOME FOR 20 YEARS AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ODY BEING SHIT AT SEA TRAVEL. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION FOR THOSE ENJOYING THE EPIC ALBUMS AS MUCH AS I'VE BEEN BECAUSE THIS WILL ENHANCE THE EXPERIENCE:

At the very beginning of "The Iliad" (aka the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War), the only main characters on the Greek side of the war that don't want to help are Achilles and Odysseus. In the "Epic" Albums, the story starts off at the very end of the war, where Odysseus is forced by his fellow Kings of Greece to kill Hector's newborn son and heir, Astyanax, by dropping him from the city walls after the battle is over and the city is burning.

Odysseus was even more desperate to avoid having to go to war. When he was young - before meeting the Morticia to his Gomez, Penelope - an oracle revealed to Odysseus that, if he were ever to leave Ithaca for any reason, he wouldn't return until 20 years later, and he would return alone and poor.

This is why, for those of you that are familiar with the beginning of The Iliad, Odysseus dresses himself as a peasant farmer, yokes a donkey and a bull to the same farming plow, and begins to drive the animals around a field outside of his palace while sowing soot into the soil when the other Greek Kings come to call on him and the forces of Ithaca to join their war on Troy. Odysseus knew, the moment he saw soldiers and ships approaching his island, that the prophecy set for his life was unfolding.

Odysseus was also the grandson of Sisyphus, who was notoriously clever and crafty, and was cursed with the pushing-the-boulder-uphill hex by Zeus because the fucker kept outsmarting the gods and finding loopholes in his deals with them and ultimately driving Zeus bananas. So, the whole "trying to outsmart fate" thing may have been genetic for Ody. However, he did absolutely love and adore Penelope and their infant son, Telemachus, and Odysseus was forced to stop malingering when Diomedes snatched the newborn Telemachus from Penelope's arms and put him directly in the path of the hooves of the bull and donkey pulling Odysseus' plow. Being a loving dad, Odysseus immediately stopped everything to rescue his son, but he'd been found out and was forced to leave for Troy.

The Trojan War alone was a siege war that lasted 10 YEARS on its own. The Iliad literally takes place over the course of an entire decade of war. Odysseus wasn't even responsible for how long the war lasted. Agamemnon and Menelaus were so stubborn about getting Helen back that they waged a fruitless siege war on the city for A WHOLE ASS DECADE. That accounts for the first decade.

Decade #2 was the one Odysseus spent trying to get home to Ithaca, but 10 years of desperate siege warfare had resulted in the gods themselves starting to fight amongst each other, and take their quarreling out on the Greek and Trojan troops. Odysseus ultimately winds up being an accessory to pissing off Poseidon in particular multiple times, but clinches Poseidon's notorious grudge-bearing rage on himself when he orders his men to help him blind the cyclops Polyphemus after Odysseus and his crew become trapped by him.

Because Odysseus refused to kill Polyphemus and only blinded him so he and his men could escape and get the FUCK off The Island Of Poor Depth Perception, you'd think he'd get brownie points for being merciful. Sadly though, Polyphemus and the other Cyclopes were the children of Poseidon, and if Odysseus had just killed Polyphemus while the cyclops only believed his name was "Nobody" (Nemo), then Poseidon would never have known who had harmed his son.

But that's not what happened. Odysseus and his men were bloodsick from 10 years of gruesome, bloody, traumatizing warfare, and Odysseus showed Polyphemus mercy and let him live. Polyphemus learned Odysseus' name as a result, and cried out to his father, Poseidon, that Odysseus be "made to suffer more than any mortal yet alive".

And in comes Contract Law. Poseidon just wants to kill Odysseus and his crew and be done with it, but Zeus is the one who gets final say over it as King of the Gods, and is also just as sick to fucking death of the wars and bloodshed. So, Zeus takes Polyphemus' request literally: Odysseus would SUFFER more than any mortal man alive, but he would not DIE because of it.

So, Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena worked together to help, hinder, and ultimately force Odysseus and his crew on an extra 10 years of strife and death being blown around the Mediterranean Sea before Zeus finally decided enough was enough and let Odysseus return home. 20 years later, alone and poor, just as the Oracle had warned him.

Was curious how far Ithaca was from troy today while listening to epic the musical and rereading the illiad and I found this map

I think odysseus would have been better just to walk😭

[xtrablak674]

I am Alive

I'm trying to remember if there are any picture of my father and me together after this image, and I don't think there are any, ergo my using this photo as the thumbnail for this entry. Addendum, I had used the photo I was talking about as a thumbnail on another entry and decided to change it with this scan of my father's public benefits card also from nineteen ninety-one, its like the story writes itself.

According to the postcard the year is nineteen ninety-one and the date is November twenty-ninth, the things that are immediately clear to me is that this isn't my campus address, and Ithaca is spelled incorrectly.

Context is very important so Dear Reader I will give you some, maybe with in a year or two after the above photograph my father moved back into his parents household where I was already residing in their former living room having been turned into a bedroom for their first-born grandchild after the passing of his mom maybe a year or two before this photo is taken.

Curiously as I did my yoga this morning I was thinking about this trucker hat that I used to own, I remember it being two shades of blue with a white plastic mesh, and as I was taking another look I am actually wearing this hat in the picture below. Its funny to me because behind the scenes my subconscious has been putting together the pieces of this journal entry in subtle ways. Last week I was sharing the postcard from my father with my nephew when we were sharing college experiences.

As usual I have gotten off-topic, but my father had moved into my 'bedroom' and we shared the pull-out bed in the couch. Interestingly I hadn't shared a bedroom since I was maybe four or five years younger, my mom had moved me into my older brother's bedroom in our apartment feeling I had the need for a bit more privacy and my father sharing a bed and room with me was a double regression, one for him and one for me.

I am feeling hesitant in how to proceed because I am not sure if I have written about how the man who had been my best-friend for most of my life turned on me, and attempted to murder me right in his parent's home which he had returned to.

I will say this our relationship was never the same after the attempted, well which is it manslaughter or more appropriately boyslaughter, or is it attempted murder? According to a Google search its all about intention, so I think this was totally murder. But thats not what I want to write about, I want to write about this postcard and the desperation that is laced in it.

When recounting the experience years later in therapy Ms. Kennedy asked me, did someone call the police? The saying, you could have knocked me over with a feather could never have been more appropriate. I had never even considered at the time that filicide is indeed a thing, there is literally a word for when a parent attempts to exterminate their offspring. The only defense I have for my grandparents is they made him leave the next day, so I only had to spend one night with the man who attempted to extinguish my life, there couldn't be anything traumatic about that, could there? #sarcasm

As an adult I can admit that folks all around were trying to do their best, it had to be hard for my grandparents to have to choose their grandchild over their first-born child, but I was the minor and legally under their care, my safety had to be put first. Writing about this now this feels like such an abstraction for me, never in my entire life I would have guessed that my own father would be the person who would attempt to assassinate me for ultimately being too much like him, not that there is ever any excuse for an adult to lay hands on a child.

I am not saying I made it through childhood unscathed, but the monsters or villains of my youth were usually people who weren't related to me. Like Marvin Church my god-grandma's eldest son who did things to me that a forty year old man should have never done to a ten year old. My father's girlfriend Patricia Jackson had beaten me in the head until I was unconscious I think the first time in my childhood I had lost consciousness. Whatever would lead me to believe that my dad would join these brutes as one of the people who weren't looking out for my best interest?

Back to the postcard, I can see that this wasn't any off-the-cuff postcard, some serious thought had went into its selection pairing humor with morbidity, an appropriate reading of his sense of humor which is also mirrored in my own humor.

Back of postcard:

"Name of Item

The letter you were expecting has been placed on back order.

We expect to ship within the next year.

Thank you for your patience."

He clearly was in his feelings about my lack of contact since I had left for college. Small context about college, I had done all of the necessary documents, applications, paid fees all on my own. My grandparents nor him had any part in my getting into the private college in upstate New York. Out of the five that I applied to I am even surprise they found out which one I was accepted to, maybe someone from my high school helped them with that piece of evidence, because I didn't share my acceptance letter with any of them.

Well it seems I need more of an explanatory comma here, at eighteen I was more than ready to leave my grandparents house, my burgeoning sexuality had caused tensions between me and the matriarch of the house leading to many terse conversations.

I was not only coming into my own, but taking the steps to realize those dreams without any input or participation of the adults in the household. There may have been some resentment on her part because it must have been embarrassing when her friends or sisters inquired where was I and she didn't have a clear idea. This probably lead to my eviction and subsequent homelessness that would happen within months of this postcard.

Front of postcard:

"I am alive.

As are your paternal grandparents.

How about you?

Please advise.

Am still working on the w.p.

I love you very much.

Aṣẹ

V.O.M.-C.M."

I have to pause a minute, I seriously thought this journal entry would be about this piece of hard paper that has been living in a collage on the wall of my bathroom, but emotionally there are feelings tangled up in how we got to this postcard, some that I didn't even anticipate. For a moment I believed that this would probably be a humorous short entry with a couple of photos. But there was so much more to unpack.

"I am alive."

Curiously two years after this postcard nearly to the month he wouldn't be alive. He'd be found in his apartment body rotted for weeks in the un-air conditioned enclosure of his Harlem apartment. The same address which is a stamp near the bottom of this missive. With his death my orphanage would begin in earnest having less than ten years with my mom and fifteen with my father, albeit I was in my early twenties when he died, after his assault I never saw him again.

"As are your paternal grandparents."

His father would die eighteen years after this postcard and his moms thirty years later peacefully in her sleep at home.

The most curious thing is he feels the need to distinguish his parents as opposed to my moms parents. She was the one who asked them to take me in case of her death, he wasn't even under consideration as a choice because he hadn't shown a level of stability in his adult life that she could trust to be conducive to raising a child. Ergo she asked his very responsible, stable and capable parents to take in his first born child. His simple sentence is laced with an un-earned self-satisfaction that I was under his parents, my grandparents care. But I think what he's missing is I should have been under his care. He was only reflecting his own failure as a parent. #idiot

"How about you?"

Well, I am guessing if you thought I was dead you wouldn't actually be writing to me. There's not much to say about that. I think I fully had cause to not want to have contact with him or his parents who non-verbally condoned his violence by not having him arrested.

"Please advise?"

I can assure the studio audience that I didn't respond to this inquiry, nor did I feel it necessary to do so. I was enjoying the freedom of young adulthood and learning so much about life attending this away-from-home college living amongst people I couldn't even imagine associating with.

"Am still working on the w.p."

This is the saddest thing in this postcard, because once again it emphasizes my father's failures. I think months before I was set to go to college he had asked me if I needed anything, that in itself was odd because at no time prior had he ever attempted to take on a parental role. He usually enjoyed embracing the role of friend or compatriot not a figure of authority or rule.

He had also never directly asked me about my needs or wants. And sadly he was decades too late! I had become very self-sufficient as a young adult having not only held a job consistently since I was fourteen but also going to school full-time and doing volunteer work at theatre downtown.

His asking me for what I wanted was a foreign and new feeling to me and I recall being taken aback because I had never even considered him as a person who would support me in anyway beyond the comic books he bought for himself that he gave me after he read. I said a word processor, clearly dating myself, but also being practical. A manual typewriter would have been unwieldy but a word processor would be useful in college a place where writing papers was the norm. But it would never come. I bought my first computer a used Macintosh SE from a junior high school friend.

"I love you very much."

I am guessing in his way he did albeit I don't think he did a good job of showing it physically. Unlike my other siblings father's he was at least more present, I visited with him much more than the other dads would visit with their children. So maybe this was love. The thing it had been tainted because of his actions towards me which he never apologized or made reparations for.

He may have been alive, but he had been dead to me for a long time, and in '93 his status had caught up with his body and he was truly dead.

[Photos by Brown Estate]

[offscriptif]

Can you do 'Place the ROs in Odysseus's place as they hear that Penelope/MC created a clever rouse to keep suitors away because they were waiting for them'? Pretty please?? :)

ROs As Odysseus

Archie: 

You waited. 

Archie knew you would. 

A smile dawns on his face, warm and bright like the breaking dawn at his back. The wind is his guide as he runs to your side, to you. There is something heartening to know that your doubt on him never wavered, as neither did his. Not once in twenty long years did he doubt your love, your commitment, your faith on his return. 

Every night, he looked at the sky and dreamed of the look on your eyes as you welcomed him home, and every morning he looked at the horizon and counted the space between his heartbeats. The space were you belonged, the space that felt empty without your touch. 

Archie doesn’t bother entering the palace, instead he makes a straight line to your window and jumps into the room without hesitation, knowing you would recognize him without trouble, just as he could recognize you after a thousand years of absence. 

Gathering you on his arms, he rests his forehead against yours and takes a deep breath. 

Tears of joy glitter on his eyes as he looks at you. 

“I am here,” he reassures as the empty space within begins to fill. “I will stay.”

Adhy: 

“Oh.”

Plush lips fall in surprise, as tears gather on Adhy’s eyes as the words resonate on her ears. 

Twenty years. You waited for her twenty years, fending off the poisonous snakes that had nestled on your court without her to temper them. You had waited, and you had triumphed over the dangers the vipers had brought with them. 

All for her. 

There is a laugh bubbling on her lips, heartfelt and finally free. Twenty years being weighted down by her worry for you, suddenly gone by such simple words. 

You waited for her. You fought for your love. 

Her smile is wider than she had thought possible, her heart lighter than it had been for years, and her feet? Her feet took her down a familiar path. A path she had walked every night on her dreams. 

Until. 

A door. 

Carefully, she opens it and slips inside, a smile on her face. 

“Well met, my love,” she tells you before she surges forward and brings you into a searing kiss. 

Vicky: 

There is a thrill running down her spine as her guide explains the reason behind your delayed nuptials. Her heart sings as the pieces slot into piece and she understands. Understands that you waited, understands how you tricked them all. 

Vicky is unbelievably proud of you. Of your strength. Of your faith on her. On your grace. She is so proud she could almost burst into tears of you, but laying eyes upon your countenance takes priority. 

She needs to see you. 

Needs to see the twist of your smile, the shine in your eyes, the soft curve of your neck. 

She needs you. She has needed you for years. 

It takes a mere second to get to you, for what is the journey when the destination is so close? 

It’s unusual, but she doesn’t bother knocking. Why would she? It’s her. It’s you. Time might have changed you both, but she knows this. What you had and what you have has not changed. 

It couldn’t. Not now, not on a thousand lifetimes. 

The door opens, and she smiles. 

“Hello, my love.”

Carmen:

She is settled, as she steps into Ithaca. Willing to accept the truth as it is, and yet, with hope burning bright and clear on her chest. 

It’s a hope born out of knowledge, out of trust. 

She knows you. She trusts you. 

She knows you waited. She trusts that you waited. 

The whispers only reassure her and lift her spirit up. Not only did you wait, but you ensured you would be free to share your love once she got home. 

She is grateful. She will never not be grateful. 

There is a spring on her step as she walks to your room, ignoring the gasps of recognition. She can deal with the fallout later, all Carmen wants now is to be in your arms. 

So to your arms she goes, called as a ship is called to their port. She falls back into you like the truth falling into place, and smiles. Finally, after all the struggle, she is back where she belongs. 

“Thank you for trusting me, cariño.”

Milo: 

Milo had not bothered with detours, heading to your room on as soon as his feet had fallen upon dry land. It is the middle of the night, yes, but the room that had been theirs is bright, illuminated by the candlelight, so he decides to risk it. 

He approaches from the beach, careful to muffle his steps as he approaches the window. It’s there, standing on the sand outside your window still that he discovers that you did not only wait, but also made sure no one would take his place at your side. 

A fond smile dances on his lips as he hoists himself up into the room and clears his throat, laughing joyfully as you startle. 

“Hello, Your Grace,” he greets cheerfully as he jumps into the room and stalks to your side. Gathering your hand in his, he twirls you playfully and brings you into his arms. Dipping you, he brushes his lips against the shell of your ear. “This thief has come to return the heart he stole and to give you his, as your beauty has enchanted him.”

Blake: 

The truth comes as a revelation. 

You stayed. You mourned them.

They had never been alone.

A trembling hand reaches up to cover their mouth as the other grasps their hair in a desperate attempt to gain some semblance of control. Because you never left, even when they had thought you would. You had stayed. You had waited. 

Their cheeks are wet, their breaths ragged, but Blake doesn’t care. They have to see you, have to lay their eyes on you so that they can believe that this is real and not just another dream, ready to slip through their fingers with the nearing dawn. 

So they run. 

Who gives a fuck about prestige? About elegance?

You stayed. You stayed despite it all, and they will not be able to take another breath if they cannot see you. 

Blake crashed into the room like a hurricane, throwing themselves into your embrace and it feels like two pieces slotting together. 

Like coming home. 

Val: 

You waited. 

The breath rushes out of their lungs as they take one step in the sandy beach, then another, and another. Their surroundings fade around them as they follow a familiar path, the path home. Carefully and quietly- almost surprisingly so for someone their size-, they slip through the hallways of a home they had thought long lost until they finally, finally, reach what was once their bedroom. There they hesitate briefly, would you want to see them? After all this time?

They have doubts. 

But you waited. 

Heart racing on their chest, they slowly open the door to see you standing in the middle of the room, looking at them. A cut off sob breaks through their lips as they see you and they take a step closer. Then another. And another. Until they are in front of you and the strength leaves their legs. 

Val kneels on the floor and looks at you almost like a supplicant looks at their god. Because you are everything. 

Because you waited. 

“I am home.”

Rowan:

“They are still there, weaving-”

They don’t stay to listen the guides’ full explanation. As soon as Rowan hears that you are here, they start running down the familiar path. 

It’s been years, but this was their home, and they would know it no matter what. They would know you no matter what. They know you, and they know you are a clever little thing. Clever enough to full the bunch of good-for-nothing suitors that had filled Ithaca as they left. Clever enough to fend them for twenty years. 

They know you. Know that you can keep this going for twenty more years.

But it would be rude for them to make you wait, now that you are so close, wouldn’t it be?

The Spirits guide them as they run to your side, joyful lighter spreading behind them like a blanket of cheer. 

It takes them mere minutes to reach your side, and once they do, they give you a toothy grin. 

“Hello, sweetheart. Missed me?”

[kindred-spirit-93]

penelope: *absolutely decimates polyphemus* THIS IS SPARTA

is named admiral instead of captain bc its badass but also after the butterfly (her weapons are black and robes blood red)

would lead her warriors to victory after 10 brutal years in troy

double au: astyanax lives (she literally just gave birth to telemachus shes flipping off zeus fs)

just for shits n giggle ctimene is her best friend- sister in law- second in command, and right hand woman

yearns for her husband and son. will not stop yapping about how much tele would adore this and ody would appreciate that

calloused hands from the sword to match odys calloused hands from the bow. sword x bow couple please and thank you

besties with athena & will swap the most scalding tea from all over ithaca and olympus. loom gossip sesh buddies ftw

kicks ass on the battlefield and i hc her naiad heritage gives her unparalleled flexibility and speed just like a fish in the water

does the cool sword wrist spin. idk i just love it

sasses circe and gets her to release her crew. also they flirt hehe

siren ody. thats it thats the whole post.

scyllas wrath blah blah

ctimene lunch break (philly cheese steak)

zeus' wrath blah blah

ogygia is interesting. i dont think calypso would let go of the absolute gem that washed up to her shore so easily.

penlope is a broken soul atp she is severely weakened to the point she can neither swim home nor fight the goddess for a peaceful nights sleep

her mother seems to have left her, her mentor and earliest friend gone, husband and son awaiting her return, crew killed for nothing.

her mother ig replaces hermes here? idk lol

years and years later her mother comes with the blessed news that her prayers have been heard and granted and that she may go home

crying with relief she doesnt even build a raft she just jumps into the water, healing and regaining life (literal and metaphorical)

calypso would poison her in small doses so she wouldnt escape and leave her

bitch

back on ithacas shores finally. finally after a decade of war and a decade more of misery, shes home

nearly faints when she sees telemachus, now a grown man, spitting image of his father, but with her eyes.

disguised as an elderly handmaiden of the palace (courtesy of athena) she watches in horror as women from all over the kingdom throw themselves at the feet of her husband. some of them she knew in infancy.

the audacity and shamelessness of these women, these girls, almost makes her wield her sword right there and then

she doesnt tho

cue mother son reveal and so many tears they raise the sea level

tele gives her a quick rundown of the past 20 years of waiting and rejecting their advances and putting up with their threats.

ody recognises the way his wife carries herself despite the aged and frail body he sees before him. but he knows. he knows.

the way her eyes sweep the room before falling to the ground, the modesty and manners reflecting her gentle birth, the deathly glare that would strike fear and dread in the hearts of her enemies

it was his wife, his penelope, roaming his halls, their halls, like a lost soul. what was he to do?

he prayed long and hard to an old friend of his that had long cut their correspondence short to accompany his wife instead.

she answered him in a dream disguised as anticlea giving her son instructions

the next day he announced a test that would finnaly settle who would be his new bride and queen of ithaca

they had exactly till the sunset to distill water from wine

easy enough they laughed to themselves. why anyone who so much as stepped into a kitchen could-

without a flame, he added, grinning wolfishly

a hooded elderly woman from across the room wore a grin to match his own

some of the women took their vessels into the blazing sun and tried to collect what little water would evaporate

in vain however, the best of them was barely able to provide more than a sip of water

there was less than half an hour till sundown and the women were beginning to get hysterical, for the penalty of losing was to pay with their lives.

a hooded woman emerged from the crowds having watched the events of the day from the guidelines. planning. plotting

they laugh at her when she reaches for a chalice of her own what with the 10 minutes of daylight they have left

in full view of the congregation she removes her cloak, raises her sleeves and ties her hair up in one swift motion

odysseus can barely contain himself. thats his penelopes hair pin, thats his wife. thats her. shes home.

the sun is starting to set, yet penelope with the ease of dew drops rolling off a petal, lifts water from the one cup, high into the air for everyone to see, and guides it to the glass vessel provided.

her disguise is finally removed and telemachus throws her her sword, brandishing one of his own

jaws drop to the ground and heads soon follow

nothing keeps the romance alive quite like murder folks

you can guess what happes next lol.

athena returns as patron goddess and forbids any sort of retaliation against the bloodshed

zeus himself lights up the evening skies and fear settles into the hearts of those who dare to defy (ody was an excellent host for 2 decades hes earned it)

everyone collapses, family fluff n feels, more tears and snot (possibly more)

blood and sweat ya nasty

intimacy by taking care of your beloveds wounds and tracing their scars HALLEUJAH AMEN

ithaca celebrates for a week the return of their beloved queen and a feast is held and festivals decorate the streets and the hearts of the people

bonus: odysseus being a man of his word (lmao) does indeed 'marry' his beloved penelope. they renew their vows

he insists on a wedding lol. telemachus doesnt know if he wants to cry and hug them both or drown himself

shes home. they all are. their hearts and souls have been restored

:')

welp thats all folks my hands hurt lol. writers & artists feel free to do anything with any of these and pls tag me if u do :D

warrior Penelope au because women in armor + holding swords >>>>

[maskedlady]

things people who haven’t read/studied the homeric poems should know

the iliad isn’t about ten years of war. it’s about fifty-one days from the last year of war. more than nine years have passed since the beginning. neither the recruit of achilles or odysseus nor aulis nor the sacrifice of iphigenia nor the trojan horse and not even achilles’ death feature in it. it actually ends with hector’s burial.

similarly, the odyssey starts during the tenth year of odysseus’ travels, when he leaves the island of the nymph calypso who had kept him there for eight years. while the story of his travels is actually there, it’s a massive flashback that odysseus himself narrates.

odysseus actually only travels circa one year, if you subtract the seven years spent on ogigia, the one year with circe, the various months and bits they camped in other places.

part of the odyssey is actually about odysseus’ son, telemachos, and his quest to find his father. also another part is about odysseus returning to ithaca and killing a bunch of princes who were trying to usurp his throne.

the aeneid is not a homeric poem. it’s styled on the homeric model, but it was written in latin by a roman poet, and the protagonist is technically one of the antagonists from the iliad.

homer never existed.

he isn’t a historical figure, he is a name with a legend attached, to whom these poems are attributed. the poems were written—no, not even written, composed orally by a series of unnamed aoidoi (hm... ministrels?) through the ages.

in fact this is quite obvious when you read the iliad. there are a lot of inconsistencies, like frequent style changes, chapters that have nothing to do with anything else and no influence on the story whatsoever, strange time lapses—at some point it’s midday twice the same day

it is thought that all of these separate fragments were then collected and organized by one person, and this version was then handed down, orally, until the first written edition around 520 b.c.

the mycenean civilization that these poems originate from ended in 1200 b.c. circa

the odyssey was initially part of a whole group of nestoi, aka “return poems”, that were basically the tales of the return of each hero from troy. the odyssey is the only one that remains, though we do know something about the others too from other pieces of greek literature

a warning for the interested. these poems are a pain to read. they are delightful but they are a pain. they were composed orally so they are full of epithets, descriptions, metaphors and similitudes. these acted as fillers to help the aedo of turn reach the length of the verse, make the various characters more recognizable, and also make the poems more comprehensible to the general public, composed mostly of common people who had never actually been in a battle—so battles and duels are often compared to more familiar scenes, like fights between animals.

no i’m not joking

there is one in particular where the screeching army of trojans coming down the hill is compared to cranes migrating over the oceans.

also, the duel between hector and patroclus is one of the “compared to animal fights” scene

when odysseus is about to drown, he talks to his own heart. possibly because it sounds slightly less crazy and more Romantic than just directly talking to oneself.

helen insults paris real often. hector berates him both internally and publicly. in fact everyone insults paris. paris is the local coward and scapegoat. deservedly. i rejoice

everybody loves patroclus. all the kings hate each other but everyone loves him—so much so that they risk their lives over his corpse 

which, mind me, wasn’t something that special in and of itself. it was important to retrieve comrades’ corpses because if the enemy got ahold of your body he’d leave it to rot and be devoured by dogs and crows, which was a huge dishonour (and also possibly barred you from entrance to the afterlife)

so much so that the ancient greek version of “go to hell” is eis korakas, “to the crows” (“may you die, lie unburied, and your body be eaten by crows”)

at some point they hold a truce (possibly several times) so they’ll have the time to collect, burn and bury all the fallen soldiers. 

back to patroclus because i got sidetracked: still. this time it is kind of a big deal because the literal centre of the fighting after patroclus dies is all the major greek heroes playing tug-o-war against hector and his brothers with patroclus’ corpse. the centre of the fighting, people, this is no joke

at some point someone is sent to tell achilles that his lover’s body is in danger so he better get out of your sulk, hurry up and come help the rest of us

achilles going armour-less to the battlefield and screaming for patroclus is enough to send the trojans running.

i am sure that all of you know this but the reason achilles doesn’t have armour is that when hector kills patroclus he takes achilles’ armour, that patroclus was wearing, as spoils of war

so an entire book after that is devoted to hephaestus forging achilles new, better armour so he can actually fight again

look, it is not actually stated that they were lovers, but it’s obvious. in greek culture especially. that was the norm and italian school teachers can get over it and stop omitting it from lessons and school books any time now

odysseus isn’t actually an asshole. sure, a lot of his misadventures were caused by him being too curious and disregarding his comrades’ advice *cough*cyclops*cough* but most of the most destructive events were caused by them disregarding his orders.

“do not kill and eat the sacred cows of apollo! he’d kill us.” guess what they did. guess how it ended 

or when they stopped by eolos’ island. eolos, god of the winds, gave odysseus a flask with all the adverse winds imprisoned inside, leaving free only the one that he needed to take him to ithaca. they got so, so very near, and then odysseus fell asleep and the others opened the thing because they thought there was more treasure inside it, and all the winds came out and blew them halfway across the mediterranean

athena often glamours odysseus to look younger and prettier or older and then again younger. it’s amazing because he always looks either like an old beggar (for camouflage) or like a young and handsome man.

do some maths. at the beginning of the war he must’ve been at least twenty. + ten years of war. + ten years of travel. at the end of the odyssey he is at least forty. by ancient standards that was not young.

odysseus’ whole voyage is basically a pissing contest between poseidon and athena. actually between poseidon and the rest of the gods. poseidon hates him and all the other gods take turns helping him.

odysseus is not an asshole, but the greeks probably considered him a shitty character, because he was clever, shrewd, and the only survivor of his community. the greeks really insisted on the concept of community, the individual doesn’t have worth in and of themself but as a part of society. this is particularly evident when he gets to the cyclops, who are the very antithesis of the greek man, described as uncivilized and living in isolation without assemblies or laws. a lot of emphasis is put on the fact that they live outside of a community.

alternatively, the difference between the iliad and the odyssey (and their respective heroes) signifies the change in greek culture, from the warrior myceneans to commerce and voyage: odysseus represents the victory of intelligence over force, and his qualities are the characteristics, for example, of a merchant

i should perhaps point out that the odyssey was composed much later than the iliad, which is also the reason it has a more complex structure (begins with the gods + telemachos’ quest, we first see odysseus on ogigia, then he recounts his whole voyage in a long flashback triggered by a bard at a feast singing about the trojan war)

oh look i got sidetracked again

back to the trivia!

do not be fooled by madeline miller. patroclus was indeed a warrior, and a very good one at that. and briseis was indeed achilles’ lover, and loved him (that is explicitly stated).

odysseus might have loved penelope but that does not mean he did not sleep around with every woman he met

circe. calypso (by whom he is imprisoned for seven years). and nausicaa princess of the phaeacians falls in love with him. this is engineered by athena 

i don’t think he actually sleeps with her but athena does make him look younger and prettier so she’ll be smitten and welcome him at the palace and give him a bunch of gifts and eventually a ship to take him back to ithaca

in the poem named after him, his own poem, odysseus is always the stranger, the guest, or the beggar.

or all three.

or all three, but it’s a lie and he’s actually at home, the king returned.

despite the iliad being about one and a half months and the odyssey being more than a year + more time taken up by other characters, the iliad is about one and a half times the odyssey.

more to come (maybe)

[hearteyes-candyskies]

Odysseus

yandere shouto x reader, background shinsou x reader

summary; im a lil too obsessed with greek myth and purple prose and shouto’s too obsessed with u. peep the title if u still dont know what this is abt

tw; blood, death

word count; 2.6k

X

the cast

of course, we have our brave and guileful hero, Todoroki Shouto, as Odysseus himself, Nobody, King of Ithaca, and Son of Laertes. you play the role of sweet Penelope, Helen’s pretty mortal cousin. brash Antinous is portrayed by Yoarashi Inasa. and Shinsou Hitoshi is our silver-tongued Eurymachus

the first glance

Shouto first comes for the hand of your demi-god cousin, Helen, who is said to rival Aphrodite in beauty. you don’t like this farce your uncle puts on, summoning men from all over Greece to compete for Helen’s hand in marriage; she is still a child, only 16, and with no say in her future. still, you think, rather guiltily, better her than you. you do your best to avoid the suitors who come in hope of Helen’s hand, lest the see you and decide that they would like a consolation prize. downward gazes, veiled hair, and thick, draping robes all help to deflect attention, and you mange to pass unnoticed for the first couple weeks. all of this changes when he arrives. it’s said that nothing escapes his watchful gaze, and when his icy eyes sweep over you, you can feel yourself freeze as you pull your shawl just a little closer. he pauses for a fraction of a second, and yet you are unimaginably relieved when he moves on to inspect the crowd of nobles gathered in the corner

the pursuit

that night, you appear only as needed for the festivities before hurrying off to your rooms to weave. you’re rushing through one of the more abandoned hallways, preferring to walk a little extra rather than run into a drunk man, and when you turn the corner, room in view, Shouto stops you. maybe stop is too vague of a word; rather, he cages you in, not only with a casual hand against the wall, but also societal niceties. you desperately want to push him away, run for the refuge of your room, but to do so would be to slight all of Ithaca and bring his wrath down on your father. Shouto knows this, too. he tries to woo you first, honeyed words and a silver tongue, but you’re the daughter of a king. you’re used to gold. he tells you that the minute he saw you hiding away in the corners of shadows that his heart would beat for no other, and that he had to have you no matter what it took. 

‘such a delicate thing, whose humble beauty is overshadowed by your cousin’s,’ he says. it doesn’t escape your notice how docile he makes you out to be, and while you were raised to be demure and refined lady, if Shouto really thinks you’re going to sit back and let him take you away, he’s wrong. he seems to sense the little fire of rebellion deep within you, but rather than putting him off, it only stokes his desire. lust flares in his eyes, and from that moment onward you know that you’ve trapped yourself in an obsessive relationship

the snare

Shouto leaves Tyndareus’ house with an alliance of the Greek city states and your hand in marriage. his quick wit and silver tongue allows him to secure the visiting nobles into a united agreement; Tyndareus will choose a husband for Helen, and all other men must leave without quarrel, and come when called upon. in return, Tyndareus will support Shouto in his pursuit of you. you know who the man is before your uncle even speaks, for in your agreement to marry Shouto, you asked that he might provide a kind and worthy man as Helen’s spouse. once again Helen lords over your life, but you cannot find it within yourself to hate her for it. after all, she is but a mere child, still too young to understand that her beauty is not really hers, that her life will always be in the hands of other men. still, one could argue that you are but a child, too. the ceremony is beautiful; you wear a dress of the finest fabric, a material softer and finer and lighter than any sort of linen you have ever encountered but one that Shouto assures you is worth it’s weight in gold. if he thinks to buy your love with material goods, you’ll allow yourself to be spoiled but you will never part with your affection willingly. at least, that’s what you think. Shouto has other plans

the early years

even from the beginning Shouto’s love is overbearing and extreme, but he’s a powerful king who treats you well and kept your cousin safe so there’s not much you can complain about. you’re just barely out of childhood, children who have been burdened with great power and yet the love and devotion he looks at you with is unparalleled. you have a feeling that he would fight even the gods to keep you. he’s kind and considerate; for the first two years of marriage he neither beds you nor tries do, despite the pressure he must feel to produce an heir and the weight of your family’s expectations. these gifts, these personal liberties he allows you to have, the way he lets you roam the island at your own leisure, this is why you fall in love with him. it’s odd; you never thought you would love the stoic king of Ithaca, but it seems that Aphrodite has other plans for you. on your twentieth birthday, you welcome him into your bed for the first time, and less than a month later, you discover that you are with child. it’s the next turning point in your marriage

the worse years

after the birth of Telemachus, Shouto’s love changes once again. once forgiving and relaxed about your interactions with others, he seeks to hide you away for only himself to see. the worst is when men approach you. it does not matter what their intentions are, nor their age nor stature nor standing; Shouto claims that his heart beats only for you, and thus yours should beat only for him. his demands to know where you’ve been and who you’ve talked to become more and more intense, until the island loses it’s queen. you are a prisoner in your own home, with Shouto smothering you in love, spending the whole of his day just lounging with you while he addresses kingly matters. bitterly, you think how you have never had any power to your name, not the way that men do and not the way that Shouto does. your rooms are nothing but a gilded cage, and you are almost glad when he is summoned for war. almost. after all, you do love the soft, kind boy that he once was

the war

throughout the war, you hear of your husband’s exploits. his bravery, his cunning, his skill. whenever you do not hear about him, your heart aches in fear, though you do not know if you wish him alive or dead. a year after the way has ended, when Helen has been reunited with Menelaus again, when Agamemnon is dead and Cassandra gone, when Aeneas has set sail for New Iliium, not yet Rome, the suitors come trickling in. at first, you do not know what to do, for festivities and mean both ceased to exist within the palace walls after the birth of your son. two catch your eye, bold Antinous, known as Inasa, sweet beyond his brash exterior, and sly Eurymachus, whose wit you see in your husband and whose charm is only his own. by the end of the second year after the fall of Troy, it is obvious who your heart beats for. the sight of purple sets your heart alight, and his small smiles are as sweet as the finest honey. you wonder if this is how Odysseus felt when he first saw you. 

‘call me Hitoshi’, he says, and the way it rolls off your tongue is a sign that this love was meant to be. he asks for your hand in marriage three times. each time a flash of red and white causes your throat clog with fear, and though you know that you deny him out of protection, it makes the tears no less painful. even the loss of your husband cannot set you free

the reprieve 

after Hitoshi’s third proposal, you set about weaving a shroud for your vanished lover. each day you weave ten rows, and each night you unravel five more. the sun-drenched days you spend with your violet-haired lover only fuel a blazing passion within you, but when he is gone, when you are alone in a cold room meant for two, the icy gaze of your husband haunts you, and you cannot help but delay the inevitable once more. you will bury your love, one day. you just cannot find the courage now. in the end of the fifth year after the fall of Troy, you finish the shroud. 

Hitoshi is too respectful to rejoice, but you can see the relief in his eyes that you have finally put the memory of your husband to rest. plans are made, friends contacted, and suitors long vacated return to your halls in preparation of a beautiful wedding. the palace swells with life once more, the boisterous laughter of the men filling the halls and driving away the cold of the night. when night falls, you rest your head against Hitoshi’s chest, his arm slung carelessly across your shoulders, and you listen to the steady sound of his heartbeat, and rejoice in the constancy of his love. 

where Shouto is the sun, bright and brilliant and life giving, but prone to flares of temper and burning those his affections focus on, Hitoshi is the moon; silver-tongued and soft, reflecting the radiance of others and giving the world a gentle glow. yet, despite your happiness, despite the love and life that is promised, you cannot help but feel a pit of worry in your gut

the unraveling 

not more than a week after the former suitors’ arrival, your anxieties are confirmed in the form of a beggar. he is naught but an old man, merely claiming to know of the great king Odysseus, yet you cannot help but lean away from Hitoshi, your lover, and sit as if unhappy with the festivities. something about your mysterious visitor doesn’t sit right with you, and when he proclaims that Odysseus has escaped death, you know why. Inasa laughs, the scent of wine and honey heavy on his breath, and declares Odysseus dead. 

‘his wife has burned the shroud she wove, not more than a month ago. dead men do not return five years after their fall.’ you want nothing more than to silence him, fear brewing in your stomach, and you are too busy giving panicked glances to your dear friend to notice how the stranger’s eyes train on you alone. a curt nod affirms Inasa’s statement, and your voice is steady when you answer. 

‘less than a moon ago I laid the memory of my husband to rest. it has been ten long years, five years too long for a living man to return.’ you say this, and yet, you cannot wonder if this is a test . who is this man who claims to know of your husband, whose eyes burn like ice against your skin? you have to know, and perhaps it is your curiosity that causes your downfall

the slaughter 

when the guests wake the next day, you propose a challenge. it’s selfish of you, borne out of a need for reassurance, a need to know that your husband truly is dead and that your love lives and will remain living. the great bow of Odysseus, only to be strung and shot by the man himself, is brought out, and forty axes are planted in the great hall. 

‘this bow was my husbands, may his soul rest in Hades, and it was said that only he could wield it. who among you will try?’ man after man step up, failing good naturedly and patting Hitoshi on the back when he too does the same. you don’t mind his inability to wield the bow; in fact, it comforts you that your husband has been laid to rest, that his memory will not live on even in his weapons. then, the beggar from last night comes forward, and though you know that the decrepit body of his will be unable to sustain the force needed to even string the bow, fear runs thick in your blood. it is like you have been struck by Zeus, watching as the stranger strings the bow with ease, before launching an arrow straight through the great axes in the hall. your husband stands, and shakes off the illusion like a fur coat. 

‘my love’ is all he says, and before you can react there’s an arrow buried in Agelaus’ heart and an expression of horror burned into his face. he orders you to the bedroom, your shared bedroom, but you stand still in shock, unable to move as he slaughters the men you have called friends in the very place you once called a prison. soon, far too quickly, there is none left save for brave Inasa and your lover Hitoshi. the look of disgust on your husband’s face as he rounds on Inasa, sword drawn, is unimaginable. 

‘you come into my house, flaunt the rules of xenia, court my wife, and desire mercy? you will have no justice except for the bite of my blade.’ Inasa dies inelegantly, loud voice lost in a fountain of blood pouring from his throat. as Shouto stalks towards Hitoshi, it as all you can do to throw yourself around your lover, despite your please, Hitoshi steps out from behind you, hands placating and silver tongue spilling words of peace and goodwill. you want to tell him that silver tongues fail against tongues of gold, but it is too late and in the end all you can do is hold your love as the life bleeds from his eyes, forgiving and gentle to the very end

the ruins

the hem of your fine silk dress is soaked in blood when Shouto pulls you into his embrace, and you call brokenly for the servants to keep your son from seeing the carnage. he should never have to know the monster that his father is. as you look into his face, worn by the horrors of war and lined by time, you cannot help but hope that this is not your husband who has just perpetuated such a crime, that the soft red and white haired boy you once knew is dead, and a god holds you in their arms instead. 

it’s a desperate, last ditch attempt to save the face of a man who once brought the life of Ithaca to you, and when you ask him to prove that he is Odysseus, that he is Shouto, your husband, you hope that he cannot speak anything but lies and half truths. he asks what you would want to hear from him, and you tell him that you have tired of sleeping alone and would like him to move to the bed in your bridal chamber, as only Odysseus himself would be able to lift it. 

Shouto smiles, the years slipping off his face, and for a second you’re staring into the eyes of a man who helped your cousin, a man who waited two years to even touch you because he wanted to respect your decision to love him at your own pace, the man who gave you your greatest joy, Telemachus. he strokes your hair, love clouding his beautiful eyes, and tells you that it cannot be done, for he built the bed himself around a living olive tree. your heart sinks in disappointment, and you know that no divinity stands before you, only a god of a man. as you fall into his arms and sob, he holds you close, arms just a little too tight as he whispers soft comforts in your ear. 

‘I am home, my love, and you have been here, waiting faithfully for me’

[hyperfixation-or-death]

(okay, to understand any of this you have to be really familiar with the plot of Epic, i think)

Romane fills Odysseus's role. The reigning queen of Ithaca, returning home from the Trojan War. Deep down, she would trade the world to see her mother and sister again. (I'm sure that won't be important later.) 600 miles of open sea. She'll make it home. She has to.

Vanessa Chassangre fills both Anticlea and Penelope's roles. She's the mother who dies while the protagonist is away (Anticlea), but she's also one of the protagonist's two reasons for fighting to get home (Penelope). Romane finds her soul in the Underworld, and it almost destroys her. Then she realizes how desperately she has to get home now; Camille is in danger.

Camille fills Telemachus's role. Ever since her mother's death, the princess of Ithaca knows it's only a matter of time before someone seizes the empty throne. She isn't old enough to reign, but she'll still be seen as a threat. All she can do is wait for her sister to return, pray to the gods, and try her best to stall the inevitable.

Hugo is also there. He hangs out with Camille, tries to convince her not to carry out stupid plans, then fully backs up those stupid plans when she inevitably carries them out anyways. He's a few years older than her, and they're kind of best friends who can't stand each other.

Victor burned every bridge behind him when he left home. The last conversation between him and his parents left no doubt in his mind: only one son of theirs would be welcomed home after the war ended, and it wasn't him. So, his mindset when he meets Romane is basically, "I have nothing left in Ithaca. My entire purpose for living is going to have to be the next person who is nice to me." And Romane is moping around because she misses Camille. And Victor kind of reminds her of Camille. So they become friends, and from there....it kind of spirals into codependency. You'll see.

Sam is initially just trying not to have a breakdown making sure his brother doesn't die in this war. He doesn't know the full extent of what happened between Victor and their parents before he and Victor left. But he knows it wasn't good, so they don't talk about it. And he's so incredibly stressed out. (Romane's first impression of him is, "oh, that guy looks anxious enough to throw up at any second") But he meets Bilal, and they become friends. And Victor and Romane become friends, and eventually they all become close.

Bilal was friends with Romane since childhood. He didn't exactly want to be here, but he's survived the war. Now he just has to survive the journey home. And make sure Romane doesn't lose her mind. (Because, really, was he the only one to notice how ominous that thing about "man-made monsters" was after the Underworld? Was it really just him?)

Herve was about to marry Vanessa before she died. (He's probably not Camille's father in this, because idk how the timeline would work.) This probably means he has some claim to the throne, right? Well, he thinks so, at least. He'd much prefer a peaceful transfer of the crown, but if the princess keeps insisting that her sister is coming home...

Sofia was a close friend of Vanessa's before the latter's death. She was also (conveniently) favored by Athena. (She's actually the one who gets Odysseus's whole Warrior of the Mind plotline in the AU.) When the main characters leave for the war, she asks Athena to watch over her son, and she agrees. This goes well, until it doesn't.

(Each saga is summarized under the cut:)

The Troy Saga: Mostly the same. The main four are all friends by now. Consists of Romane basically going "I don't have a favorite member of this crew. I like Victor and all you non-Victors equally." and Athena following Bilal around to give him advice in increasingly obvious ways with absolutely no one else noticing. Things are mostly lighthearted-ish at this point.

The Cyclops Saga: Important to note that I am not killing off any of the main four because I simply do not want to. I do kill off many background characters, though. Athena reveals herself and tells Bilal to kill the cyclops. He refuses on the grounds of mercy and such. It's a really inspiring speech. The only problem is that it's so inspiring, it inspires someone else, possibly Victor, possibly Romane, possibly a random background character, to start yelling at the blinded cyclops about the whole "remember them, remember us, remember me" thing. Which...was not really what he was going for with that. This will definitely not come back to haunt them later. Anyways, Athena ditches him after that. He's sad about it.

The Ocean Saga: Luck Runs Out argument is either Sam or Bilal talking to Romane, idk. Maybe both. After Romane gets the bag with the storm inside, Victor offers to help watch it. She turns him down, because she can't stop thinking of worst-case scenarios at this point. She has to get home, she has to handle this herself and make sure nothing happens. Victor is somewhat hurt over this, taking it as a lack of trust. However, the person to open the bag is probably not a main character. After Poseidon drowns the majority of the fleet, Romane gives Victor a signal, and he's the one to open the bag for their escape. This kind of relieves his earlier thought that she didn't trust him, and they're on good terms again. Unfortunately, hundreds of people are now dead, which kind of overshadows that.

The Circe Saga: Circe's island is basically "this is the most inconvenient way possible to discover that i'm bi" for Romane and "this is the most convenient way possible to discover that i'm aspec" for Victor. Everyone's wracked with survivor's guilt as well. Also there's some more emphasis on Victor and Camille having some parallels (ha) with each other, and this is around the time Romane and Victor's friendship starts spiraling towards codependency. Sam and Bilal don't do as much this saga, because they're part of the group that Circe temporarily turns into pigs.

The Underworld Saga: Here's where everything takes an extremely sharp dive downhill. As they sail through the Underworld, Romane finds the soul of her mom and realizes that she had died while she was away. In a way, that breaks her, because she can go home, but it won't be the same. Not with her mom gone. Here is where her primary motive shifts from just "go home to my family" to "protect Camille at any cost, I'm all she has left and she's in danger now." And all the morals get blurred.

The Thunder Saga: The siren, taking the form of Romane's greatest desire, shifts into her mother for the Suffering scene and begs her to come home. Of course, due to the beeswax trick and Romane being aware that her mother is dead, this doesn't work.

At this point, Bilal is really, really concerned about Romane's mental state, and brings it up to Sam and Victor. Sam agrees. Victor outwardly denies that anything's wrong, but there's some doubt that he's burying deep down.

It's around this time that the crew starts getting suspicious of Victor. (He's clearly the favorite of the captain. He's refusing to hear any criticism of her methods. Didn't he say he was disowned before the war? Does he even care if he gets back to Ithaca? How far is he willing to take this?)

Victor reacts to this by distancing himself from the crew, aside from Bilal, Romane, and Sam.

Sam, on the other hand, is starting to grow closer with people outside of his brother and two friends. The guilt of the Underworld is haunting him, and he wants to make sure they don't lose anyone else.

This causes some conflict between Victor and Sam.

Romane, meanwhile, has made up her mind to sacrifice six people to Scylla. She steels herself, and tells Victor to light up six torches. He does, and she doesn't realize for a moment that he kept one to hold himself. When she realizes, she panics, makes a really hasty excuse for him to hand it off to someone else, and pulls him over to stand by her. She makes sure Sam and Bilal aren't holding a torch. By now, she's gotten the attention of most of the crew, but it's too late; Scylla approaches.

After the ensuing bloodshed, everyone is horrified.

Victor had handed out those torches. He had unknowingly sentenced those people to death. And- it was almost him. It was almost him, but Romane specifically saved him and let someone else die in his place.

And he started off this AU feeling like his parents' unwanted child, the least favorite. And he had wanted more than anything to know that someone cared about him specifically. He wanted to be someone's favorite, the first choice, he wanted to know that there was someone on his side no matter what.

That's what he had wanted, and that's what he got, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. (There's a part of him that's almost grateful. There's a part of him that's happy, and it makes him want to scream.)

Bilal confronts Romane. She only apologizes for having Victor light the torches; she hadn't been thinking. She should have done it herself, but she had been lost in thought, and-

(And she's not sorry for the rest? For the six lives they were supposed to protect? Suddenly Bilal isn't angry anymore; he's grieving. Grieving what this journey did to his friend.)

The cousin of the man Victor's torch had been handed to is screaming at Victor, accusing him of knowing what was going to happen. He had planned this, she says. He had planned this with Romane, and he was her favorite from the start because of her sister, everyone knew that, and now look what you've done-

Victor swears he didn't know, and he's hurt and furious, but Romane is still talking to Bilal. Romane's the one who did this, but Victor's the one who's there and he's ready to snap. Everything's building up to another breaking point.

A fight breaks out. Victor gets the upper hand, and almost stabs the man's cousin. Sam stops him just as Romane and Bilal return. Victor has a stunned and horrified moment of, "what am i doing? did i actually just almost do that?"

Sam is actually the one to start the mutiny. He knew the people sacrificed. They were his friends. And Romane was his friend, too. But this was too far.

The "you know you'd have done the same" line is extremely painful, because maybe she's right. She's doing this to keep her younger sister safe; would he have done the same for Victor, if he was in her place? Maybe he would have. But he's not in her place, and she's the one who just knowingly let six people die, and he can't let anyone else die. He can't.

Romane doesn't try to kill him, and he doesn't try to kill her. They're both fighting to subdue, and it's not working. Some background character decides that enough is enough, and moves to stab Romane.

Victor jumps in to take the hit. Even he isn't quite sure why. (She's his friend. She's his friend, and he'd do anything for her, and there's no one waiting for him back home. Maybe they're all right about him. Maybe there's more than one monster on this ship. But he's going to save his best friend.)

It's non-lethal, but it's still a stab wound. Everything stops. Everyone is horrified.

Somehow, with whatever follows that moment, they land at an island. I don't know who kills the sacred cow, but someone does, and Zeus arrives.

Except, the choice he gives Romane is different. She'll live no matter what; she'll have to live with whatever choice she makes. Three lives. Sam, Victor, Bilal. The lives of the remaining crew. (Idk how many are left, but it's more than in Epic canon at this point.)

There's no way out, no choice to make that isn't horrific. She saves her friends, and something breaks that can never be unbroken. Lightning strikes, and it's over.

Rest of The Sagas: Idk, the sagas aren't out yet. Camille, Hugo, and Sofia are all gonna be really important later in the AU, though.

and if i said Disney Parallels (2022) x Epic: The Musical AU. would you people see my vision....

[jackiics]

Not everyone can say they’ve been to the Big Apple, but JACQUELINE ‘JACKIE’ O'CONNOR, a THIRTY year-old CIS FEMALE has lived in BROOKLYN for SEVEN YEARS. This is the city of dreams and SHE knows it, because they came to NYC to be a BALLET TEACHER. Well, that and as a FLORIST to LUCIFER VALE. Living in the city means they meet all kinds of people, but everyone always seems to think they look like JENNA LOUISE COLEMAN. They even got away with free cab fare once because of it!

tw: mentions of disordered eating, mentions of illness, death, infedelity

born and raised in oxford, jacqueline 'jackie' o'connor was quite a timid little girl. shy and not quick to speak up, she went through all of primary school being a bit of a grey mouse; a wallflower, if you will. she only had one close friend, but jackie was fine with that. she was only focused on one thing anyway: dance. namely ballet. and she was good, too; too good for her local little dance school, and so she auditioned for the royal ballet school, not really expecting to get in -- but then, you guessed it; getting in. she loved every single second of spending her days focused on dancing, but hated being away from her parents so very much. plus, the girls there weren't the nicest, and some of the teachers didn't help either. making her believe she wasn't the right *size* to be a prima ballerina, jackie quickly developed an eating disorder. because she was away at school, her parents had no clue, and it went on for an entire year before they noticed and pulled her out of the school, seeking help.

after returning home at 15, she returned to 'regular' school, and enter the theatre kids! they welcomed her with open arms, pulling her out of her shell a bit. of course, she was still dancing on the side -- but more as a hobby than anything else. all was well for about two years, until her father contracted a deadly disease, and jackie lost him within a year. she was inconsolable, her father having been her biggest supporter, and she relapsed into her eating disorder, desperately wanting to have control over some part of her life. it took a little while to get back up from this hole, but with the help from rehab and her mother, jackie could say that after a year, she finally felt better -- and she's intending to keep it that way. in that year, her mother also decided it was time for a change. transferring to a different branch within her company, jackie and her mother now found themselves in the quaint city of ithaca, new york. 

her time in rehab gave her some time to reflect on what it was she really wanted out of life, and she decided she never wanted any little kid to go through what she went through. realizing her best course of action was to become a dance teacher and start her own school, jackie got her teaching certificate from her local community college -- only to promptly get distracted by the most gorgeous new man in town. 

ever the hopeless romantic, she immediately fell for him. hard. after two years of dating, he proposed, and she said yes -- not knowing that only a year later, she’d find him in bed with her best friend. jackie was obviously crushed, immediately breaking off the engagement and moving back in with her mother. clueless as to what to do next, her mother proposed to her she pick up right where she left off -- open her own dance studio. 

and that is where we find jackie today, folks! well, sort of. she moved to brooklyn not too long after that conversation with her mother, and she’s been working as a florist ever since. she has to save up money to rent a space eventually, and her own rent doesn’t come cheap, so.. the studio is still a dream. jackie knows, however, that if she keeps saving, slowly but surely, her dream will eventually come true. one bouquet at a time. 

[jeromecolby]

Jerome Backstory

Circe ranks as one of the greatest witches of mythology. A beautiful enchantress . Circe, in Greek legend, a sorceress, the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and of the ocean nymph Perse. She was able by means of drugs and incantations to change humans into wolves, lions, and swine. The Greek hero Odysseus visited her island, Aeaea, with his companions, whom she changed into swine.

The daughter of Helios and Perse, Circe was a powerful enchantress versatile in the arts of herbs and potions and capable of turning human beings into animals. She did just that to Odysseus’ sailors when they reached her dwelling place, the secluded island of Aeaea. Odysseus, however, managed to trick her with the help of Hermes and, instead of becoming an animal, he became her lover for a year. The couple had three children, one of whom, Telegonus, eventually killed Odysseus.

Family

Circe was the daughter of Perse, one of the Oceanids, and Helios, the Titan sun god. As such, she was part of a family of formidable sorceresses. Pasiphae, who supposedly charmed both Minos and Procris, was her sister, and the even more notorious enchantress Medea was her niece, since she was the daughter of Circe’s brother Aeetes, the guardian of the Golden Fleece. Circe had another brother, Perses, who was slain by Medea after he had deposed her father Aeetes from the throne of Colchis.

Reaching Circe’s Island

Disheartened and dispirited from their horrendous encounter with the man-eating Laestrygonians – after which they had been left with only one out of their twelve ships – Odysseus and his remaining men land on Aeaea, Circe’s island.

At first glance, it seems to them like a desolate island, since the only visible sign of life is a column of smoke rising from somewhere deep in the woods. Naturally, Odysseus sends his men to investigate, putting his brother-in-law Eurylochus in charge of the scouting party.

The Transformation of Odysseus’ Men

After some time, the men reach Circe’s house and are surprised to find many fearsome beasts – mostly lions and wolves – slouching around and acting as domesticated as the tamest pets imaginable. From the inside, they hear a woman’s voice: it’s Circe singing melodiously.

Eurylochus suspects danger, so he chooses to stay outside as Circe comes out of her house and welcomes the rest of the scouting party indoors. Odysseus’ men are treated with some fine-flavored wine they gulp down in a second with the utmost pleasure. However, once they do that, Circe makes a quick move with her wand and, suddenly, all of Odysseus’ men are transformed into pigs. They still have their human brains, so they start grunting and weeping as Circe puts them into her pigsty.

Odysseus Tricks Circe

Eurylochus runs back to Odysseus and tells him the whole story and Odysseus decides to confront Circe. Fortunately, on his way to Circe’s house, he is met by Hermes, who gives him a magical black-rooted white-flowered plant called moly which, the divine messenger says, will make Odysseus immune to Circe’s spells.

As indicated by Hermes, Circe’s wine has no effect on the cunning Greek hero and so, after the enchantress pulls out her wand, Odysseus responds by pulling out his sword. He makes Circe swear that she won’t hurt him and forces her to restore the original form of all his sailors. Circe does precisely that and, furthermore, taken aback by his bravery, offers Odysseus her sincere love and unconditional devotion.

Odysseus accepts them, and, as a result, his men stay in Aeaea for almost a year, after which Odysseus becomes restless to go back to Ithaca and once again see his mortal wife, Penelope.

Odysseus’ and Circe’s Offspring

If we are to believe Hesiod’s genealogies, however, we must deduce that Odysseus returned to Aeaea once or twice more after this, or at least that he stayed there for a little longer than a year. Since Circe – says Hesiod – bore him no less than three children: Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus. The last and youngest one of the three ended up killing Odysseus by mistake using a poisoned spear given to him by his mother.

Circe in Other Myths

Circe plays a smaller part in few other myths: she purifies Jason and Medea from a murder, and she transforms PIcus and Scylla into a woodpecker and monster respectively.

Jason and Medea

Circe shows up in the second most famous Ancient Greek story of sea adventures, the voyage of the Argonauts. According to Apollonius, after Jason and Medea treacherously and brutally kill the Colchian prince Absyrtus, it is Circe who purifies them from the sin, though she also chases them away from her island once she learns the full gravity of their transgression.

Circe, a Vengeful Lover

Before falling for Odysseus, Circe felt an attraction to at least three other men, the first one a mortal, and the second two a god.

The mortal was Picus, who was too faithful to his wife Canens for his own sake: after fiercely rejecting Circe’s advances, Picus was turned into a woodpecker. Unable to fight through the unbearable sorrow, six days later, Canens threw herself into the river Tiber.

Another time, the sea-god Glaucus asked Circe for a potion which would make the beautiful nymph Scylla fall in love with him. Circe, however, loved Glaucus for herself, so, when he scorned her, she gave him a potion which turned Scylla into the hideous sailor-preying monster Odysseus and his crew had to evade soon after leaving Circe’s island. The third was the God Odin. Odin was known for taking more than one female. Though he loved his mate, Odin had an affair with Circe keeping her happy so nothing bad fell on him.

Who was Circe?

The daughter of Helios and Perse, Circe was a powerful enchantress versatile in the arts of herbs and potions and capable of turning human beings into animals. She did just that to Odysseus’ sailors when they reached her dwelling place, the secluded island of Aeaea.

Where did Circe live?

Circe's home was Aeaea.

Who were the parents of Circe?

The parent of Circe was Helios.

Who were brothers and sisters of Circe?

Circe had 3 siblings: Pasiphae, Aeetes and Perses.

How many children did Circe have?

Circe had 4 children: Agrius, Latinus, Telegonus and Jerome.

Father: Odin

Odin (/ˈoʊdɪn/;[1] from Old Norse: Óðinn, IPA: [ˈoːðinː]) is a widely revered god in Germanic mythology. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates Odin with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and projects him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, the god was known in Old English and Old Saxon as Wōden, in Old Dutch as Wuodan, and in Old High German as Wuotan, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Wōđanaz, meaning 'lord of frenzy', or 'leader of the possessed'.

Odin appears as a prominent god throughout the recorded history of Northern Europe, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania (from c.  2 BCE) through movement of peoples during the Migration Period (4th to 6th centuries CE) and the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries CE). In the modern period the rural folklore of Germanic Europe continued to acknowledge Odin. References to him appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including in English.

In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, such as the Langobards. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily around the 13th century. These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.

Old Norse texts portray Odin as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir and wearing a cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied by his animal companions and familiars—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. Odin is the son of Bestla and Borr and has two brothers, Vili and Vé. Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the gods Thor (with Jörð) and Baldr (with Frigg), and is known by hundreds of names. In these texts he frequently seeks greater knowledge, at times in disguise (most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry), makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits, and takes part both in the creation of the world by way of slaying the primordial being Ymir and in giving the gift of life to the first two humans Ask and Embla. Odin has a particular association with Yule, and he provides mankind with knowledge of both the runes and poetry, giving Odin aspects of the culture hero.

Odin is a frequent subject of interest in Germanic studies, and scholars have advanced numerous theories regarding his development. Some of these focus on Odin's particular relation to other figures; for example, the fact that Freyja's husband Óðr appears to be something of an etymological doublet of the god, whereas Odin's wife Frigg is in many ways similar to Freyja, and that Odin has a particular relation to the figure of Loki. Other approaches focus on Odin's place in the historical record, a frequent question being whether the figure of Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European mythology, or whether he developed later in Germanic society. In the modern period the figure of Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other cultural expressions. He is venerated in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry, together with other gods venerated by the ancient Germani Odin, also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan, one of the principal gods in Norse mythology. His exact nature and role, however, are difficult to determine because of the complex picture of him given by the wealth of archaeological and literary sources. The Roman historian Tacitus stated that the Teutons worshiped Mercury; and because dies Mercurii (“Mercury’s day”) was identified with Wednesday (“Woden’s day”), there is little doubt that the god Woden (the earlier form of Odin) was meant. Though Woden was worshiped preeminently, there is not sufficient evidence of his cult to show whether it was practiced by all the Teutonic tribes or to enable conclusions to be drawn about the nature of the god. Later literary sources, however, indicate that at the end of the pre-Christian period Odin was the principal god in Scandinavia.

From earliest times Odin was a war god, and he appeared in heroic literature as the protector of heroes; fallen warriors joined him in Valhalla. The wolf and the raven were dedicated to him. His magical horse, Sleipnir, had eight legs, teeth inscribed with runes, and the ability to gallop through the air and over the sea. Odin was the great magician among the gods and was associated with runes. He was also the god of poets. In outward appearance he was a tall, old man, with flowing beard and only one eye (the other he gave in exchange for wisdom). He was usually depicted wearing a cloak and a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a spear.

JEROME

As everyone knows, what Circe wanted, Circe got. When she set her sights on The father of Gods, Odin nothing would stop her. Odin, the God seen a beautiful God who could help him win his battles with her potions. Little did he know she would trick him, and keep him at her island for months while the plan all along was to impregnate her with a son. One she would cherish above all. He would be a brother to Thor. Only his powers would be that of not onky strength, he was a sorcerer as well. Jerome is out going, the life of the party. He has many abilities and ones he is still finding he has. He isn't like Father, or his Mother and is actually a nice guy with a huge heart. Yiu fuck with what's his, or family and he will make you pay.