#Polyphemus Saga

[positive-meme-experience]

Anyone else feel like saying "Glad we could see eye to eye" to a cyclops might count as a microaggression?

I know Polyphemus was going to kill them anyway, but I find it more amusing to imagine the scene going like:

Polyphemus: *drinks the wine*

Polyphemus: *thinks Maybe these guys aren't so bad after all?*

Odysseus: I'm so glad we could see eye to eye

Polyphemus:

Odysseus:

Polyphemus: Actually, fuck you and your friends.

[sera8273]

Whenever I think back on Odysseus Doxxing himself to Polyphemus in Remember Them, I can’t help but feel pity for the man.

Now from an outsiders POV it just seems like Arrogance and pride which isn’t entirely wrong.

But when you look at it from Odysseus POV it’s more than that.

Polites, One of Ody Best (Childhood) Friend who was practically his light just died in an instant. He couldn’t save him, couldn’t warn him. He.just.died.

He couldn’t even process or mourn because his Second in command- his Brother is looking at him in a terrified manner because, oh yeah! He and his men (43?) are in the cave that has a Cyclops that’ll kill them off one by one who is also blocking the exit!

They can’t kill him bc he’s blocking the exit but the Lotus Fruit that Ody snuck in the wine will eventually wear off. So they have to blind him if they’re gonna escape.

But! They realize that there’s more! So now, without alerting any of the cyclops, Odysseus has to get Himself, his men, and the sheep outside the cave as quickly and quietly as possible.

Without any sort of warning however he’s thrusted into Quick Thought by his mentor, Athena, who -with no explanation- tells him that he has to kill the blinded cyclops who would most likely get more men, if not all, killed while also alerting the other Cyclops and most likely Gods and Godesses.

Now to point out. Odysseus is not keen with murder or death and chooses to avoid the most safest options available if it means the safety for his crew.

But at this point. He’s stressed, Terrifired, Tired, Sad-

And most importantly

Angry.

So him basically doxxing himself was literally just Ody saying to Athena “Look! Look! He’s not killing us! Is he? No! He’s not! Murder isn’t the solution to every little thing! Ok! Ok!” Why? Because he’s so tired and just wants to get home.

[elgringo300]

I’ve been listening to Epic the Musical on repeat for the past few days.

What I really like is that, more than a cunning warrior, they emphasize that Odysseus is an inspiring leader.

Like, just listen to Remember Them. Probably my favorite song out of all of them.

And with the way that Athena is portrayed, where she chose Odysseus so that she could craft him into the perfect warrior, and the conflict that they have,

It’s like the story is telling us that what really matters, isn’t merely your cunning or strategy, it’s being able to lead your men to victory.

Especially since after he lets Polyphemus live, she abandons him. And he kind of spits in her face and says get out of here. I don’t need you or your bloodthirsty dogma anymore. I’m going to make sure my men survive.

[souvelitas]

polites

[gingermintpepper]

I think, perhaps one of the funniest things to come from EPIC popularising the Odyssey is that now a ton of people think Poseidon wanted to kill Odysseus.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon has no intention of killing Odysseus. In fact, part of the whole reason Zeus lets Poseidon do whatever he wants even though he thinks Odysseus is rad and should get to kiss his wife is explicitly because Poseidon had no intentions of killing Odysseus. Poseidon wanted to pay back the suffering/inconvenience blinding Polyphemus would have caused. It's a really abstract thing tbh. How do you pay back someone permanently disabling your son? Poseidon's solution was just to amputate Odysseus from his other half; i.e. Penelope. The end game was never murder, it was always an endurance race.

(Od. Book 1: Zeus reassuring Athena that he is not, in fact, a part of Odysseus Hater-Nation. Trans. Robert Fagles)

Also, for those wondering if there's any sort of in text reason for why Poseidon wasn't around in God Games - at the time in the Odyssey when Athena petitions Zeus to let Odysseus leave Calypso's island, Poseidon was -checks notes- on vacation in Ethiopia. Yep. He left to Ethiopia for a festival and thusly was very much absent for Athena's whole "please let Ody go? Please? 🥺" request.

(Od. Book 1: While Odysseus was suffering, Poseidon went to party in the east)

I am begging y'all to read the Odyssey. It's a comedy for everyone except Odysseus and Penelope who are, in fact, suffering 24/7 365.

[thetiredprometheus]

Epic if Odysseus had kept the braincell he had in the trojan war

[lunameimei]

So that's basically what happened in "The Cyclops Saga" right ?

[ciggycat-art]

A Trade, You See?

[vor-leser]

i love that in the book poseidons sole motivation for hunting ody for A FULL DECADE is just because of his son polyphemus,, like,,, hes not even trying to teach him a lesson like in the muscial,,, just a very passionate dad!!!

also close-up under the cut cause the face rendering kind of slays

[d0ktordr]

Polyphemus after getting stabbed in the eye:

[dionysism]

epic odysseus: no athena i will not "finish it." mercy is a skill more of this world could learn to use

odysseus in the odyssey, shouting from his ship as his men beg him to stfu: lF ONLY I COULD STEAL YOUR LIFE FROM YOU, AND SEND YOU DOWN TO HADES' HOUSE BELOW, AS SURE NOBODY WILL EVER HEAL YOU, EVEN THE GOD OF EARTHQUAKES!

[sera8273]

I don’t think that Polyphemus and Poseidon Father-and-Son relationship gets mentioned often in EPIC (and odyssey and Iliad and stuff but again my info is 100% from EPIC less stated otherwise-)

Both of them wanted to kill Odysseus last:When Odysseus spares Polyphemus and when Odysseus apologized to Poseidon for blinding Poly, they both wanted to kill him last bc ‘Ruthless is Mercy’ and stuff.

(Let’s be honest with ourselves here, Poly only tried to kill them after Ody sang that ‘Glad we see eye to eye’ joke—)(And Poseidon would’ve killed the 557 men no matter what bc he wanted Ody to see the consequences of sparing an enemy—)

They both try to get ‘revenge’ I suppose:When Odysseus shoots Polyphemus apparently favorite sheep and when Poseidon came down to kill odyssey for Blinding Poly they’re both kinda trying to get revenge (one is for the death of a favorite pet and another is for trying to humiliate a literal God)

And when Odysseus yells out to Polyphemus saying to the Giant how he’s his Darkest Moment (which is again- ✨ Racist✨) Poseidon uses the same line when he Kills off Ody 557 men because Odysseus is seemingly in defeat and a loss of control. (And because he is a ✨Petty✨ ✨little✨ ✨fucker✨)

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Polyphemus: I would like to thank you for this lovely wine, Nobody!

Odysseus: I'm so glad we see eye to eye.

Polyphemus, a cyclops who has heard that joke done to death:

Polyphemus: Y'know, I was gonna let you all go but, screw it, just for that I'm eating your bestie.

[nonbinarylocalcryptid]

Odysseus retelling what happened when Polyphemus asked his name:

(Has anyone done this yet?)

[venus-de-mil0-09]

Epic the Musical Memes

Edit: Also some obligory Hermes

Edit: Thanks you all for 300 notes!!!

Some more for you lovely people 💖💖

Plus some perenor :)

Edit: Thank you all for over 400 notes! I might nake some more layer today :D

[fuckingdeadinsidetm]

Polyphemus @ Odysseus after being blinded