#I've been on a Greek epic's kick lately

[notsoshining]

It's a little more complicated than that, though.

The myth of Odysseus was one passed orally at first, meaning that different versions and interpretations were known by different people.

While it is true that there is an ending where Odysseus gets killed by his lovechild, it is not cannon to Homer's Odyssey.

That ending is told on an epic called The Telegony, from which we know only a couple of verses, given that the original poem has not been found in its entirety.

There's little to no information about the authors of both The Odyssey and The Telegony, (there are theories that it could be the same author, wildly different guys, that The Telegony was stolen, etc.) We're not even sure where they both sit on the timeline (The Telegony could have been written before or after Homer's Odyssey, but there's also talk about them being contemporary).

Homer could have know about that part of the myth as much as he couldn't have, we don't know. Maybe the guy never heard of that version, maybe he just didn't care and wanted a happier ending for Odysseus.

However, in Homer's version, Tiresias does say in his prophecy that Odysseus would die of old age after he arrives home (among other things), which most likely indicates that The Telegony isn't the ending Homer had in mind when writing his epic.

All that is to say that, while The Telegony is part of and a version of the Greek myth, it's not the one being portrayed in The Odyssey, which is what Epic: The Musical is based on.

In the end, it all comes down to interpretation and what people want to do with their version of Odysseus.

For Epic, maybe the ending OP proposed is canon, regardless of the other versions of the myth (it wouldn't be the first time it changes according to the author. Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy had a wildly different end to Odysseus life, which later inspired the poem Ulysses by Lord Tennyson.).

It's stories, at the end of the day, and they are what we make of it.

Do you think Athena cried when Odysseus died

Or do you think she saw her oldest friend pass in his sleep, like he deserved, resting peacefully with the love of his life beside him, and let out a sigh of relief

Do you think she stood beside Telemachus as he discovered his parents in their marriage bed, curled into each other with soft smiles on their faces, and rested a hand on his shoulder offered her presence as comfort because what do you say to a child who just lost his parents. He may be an adult now, but here and now, he is but a boy saying goodbye to his family

Do you think she was there when both Odysseus and Penelope crossed the River Styx hand in hand.

Do you think she appeared to Telemachus and gave a single stoic nod. Do you think she sat with him as he sobbed, knowing his parents were eternally peaceful, that they didn't deserve anything less, and would never ask for anything more

Do you think she watched over Telemachus because Odysseus asked her or because she owed it to all of them