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beauty-and-passion · 10 months ago

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Lore Olympus: a superficial vision of Greek Mythology

Hello again,

here we are with the third and last post about Lore Olympus. New post (posts?) will come when the story is over, but this is my last one for now.

This post will be about the main characters of the story: Hades, Persephone and Demeter. The story is about them after all, right? Right?

These three aren’t just the protagonists of the story: they are also the sum of all the problems we talked about: they’re badly written, they’re a waste of potential and they’re insulting to Greek mythology - and everyone’s intelligence.

But let’s talk about them in detail.

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Hades: boring rather than mysterious

Hades isn't exactly an easy character to write. According to the myth, Hades is serious, dark and gloomy - and of course he is, he should be the representation of death!

In addition to that, he's not exactly a positive figure. In the original myth, he kidnapped Persephone and when Demeter asked for her daughter back, Hades tricked Persephone into eating a pomegranate. The pomegranate was considered a fruit of the underworld and whoever ate it, could not leave the underworld anymore - so he found a way to have her around, at least for half of the year.

So nope, he wasn’t exactly the good guy here.

However, Hades is also one of the very few gods/mythological figures who is mostly faithful to his wife: he had just a few lovers, compared to the billions of lovers other gods had.

That could be used to portray him as an introverted guy, who isn’t able to find the love of his life - at least until he meets Persephone.

Or it can be used to make him even more intimidating: he’s the god of the dead after all, so people can be rightfully scared of him. And he would grow bitter and dark, because of the constant rejection. This could lead to a sort of Beauty-and-the-Beast remake, in which he slowly learns how to improve, thanks to Persephone’s acceptance.

Or it can be a way to show him for who he is: a dark, gloomy figure no one can accept because he’s linked to death and only someone who deals with the cycle of nature can understand. (Guess which idea I like more.)

Hades can be very interesting. He has A LOT of potential.

But Lore Olympus doesn’t exploit it. Hades is rich in the most boring way, just like any modern American capitalist could be. He owns stuff and people and doesn’t care about anything and anyone, starting from his dogs that appear only when the story needs them, to his godson or whatever Thanathos was supposed to be.

In addition, Mrs. Smythe tries so hard to make us sympathize with Hades by giving him a ton of traumas. But we never delve deeper: I don’t care about Hades’ childhood, I don’t care about his resemblance to his father, I don’t care about his supposed abusive relationship with Minthe. I. Just. Don’t. Care.

And this is bad. He’s the male protagonist, I should care about him! But I don’t. I don’t remember a single moment involving him. He's incredibly bland, for someone with all these issues going on.

This is one of the biggest proofs of amateur writing: in order to make a character interesting, you add as many things as possible. And so Hades has stuff and problems and everything, but it’s all words. It’s telling and not showing. All of his threads are not developed and do not reach any point.

Do you know what Mrs. Smythe could’ve done instead? She had two possible choices:

1) To spend time on Hades’ character and his personal growth (and focus the story on him and not on a shit ton of other characters).

2) To make him a simpler character. No character needs 200 traumas and 300 quirks to be interesting. And considering we’re talking about fucking Hades, we don’t need much else. He’s the god of the underworld, what else do you need? Mrs. Smythe could’ve focused on his role only and it would’ve been a great story already.

But nope, we got a rich, old guy swooning over a young, naive kid like everyone else does in this boring story.

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Persephone: over-perfection

Persephone is never allowed to be a character in this story. She cannot have flaws. She is always nice, the nicest, the most perfect girl in the world. All the other girls are bad and mean, but not her. She is and she will always be nice.

But then, oh, she starts talking about "a feeling" inside her: a super vague-y feeling that made her angry.

And I had a feeling inside me too: the feeling that this would lead to some bullshit.

We reach the end of act one, by finding out about Persephone's act of wrath. Helios' version is: Persephone got angry because the humans were killing her friends (friends she never mentioned and will never mention, but let’s pretend it makes sense), so she killed the humans in return.

Okay, so Persephone can get angry. She can be vengeful. She can make mistakes and be flawed. Wow, that’s interesting! I can’t wait to see how she will talk about these feelings inside her and I want to see the contrast between them and her need to be perfect. We will see her regret and her growth, because she did something terrible despite harmless humans begging her to stop and she will learn from her mistakes...

Nah nah nah, none of that. First of all, we should justify Persephone because clearly this is the right thing to do: justify a bad character.

Do you want to know what the truth is? The humans weren't begging as Helios thought, by they were mean to Persephone: bo-hoo, poor little goddess, she's just a fucking goddess after all while they were humans, she's clearly the perfect target for bullies.

Also, it wasn't her who did her act of wrath, it was the feeling inside her! The feeling made her do it!

This is the epitome of immature, horrible writing: justifying the bad actions of a character at all costs. It's a bit like saying that, idk, Voldemort murdered a lot of people, but only because they were mean to him and because he was surrounded by bad people who made him do it - otherwise, he would've been the nicest guy ever. That's bullshit, that's idiotic, that strips the character of their responsibilities because the author is very biased and doesn't want to see flaws in their perfect creation.

Because of that, Persephone's flaws disappeared again. She isn't bad, it's the thing inside her (that is not her and we see it reconfirmed over and over) that made her bad! She is perfect! She is the purest!

I hated this. This is the biggest proof that the author is immature, inexperienced and immensely biased. Persephone had her chance to finally be something more than a smile and a pretty body but nope, once again she was nothing more than a bidimensional cardboard.

But that's not all. The constant reconfirmation that Persephone had "a feeling" inside her, that "it wasn't her doing this" was still pushing in the back of my head. My bullshit senses were tingling more than ever.

And then, we reached the fucking trial.

A trial that doesn't make any sense because, even if Zeus trusted Helios' version of the story (i.e. Persephone got angry because the humans were killing her friends, so she killed them in return), this whole thing isn't worth a trial. I mean, the gods did worse stuff for a lot less: for example, Hera and Athena were so pissed at Paris for the story of the golden apple, to welcome the Trojan War and take sides, despite Zeus telling everyone to not interfere. And speaking of Zeus, what about when the gods tried to overthrow him? He punished Hera and a couple of other gods, but didn't make a whole ass trial.

But okay, fine, this is a retelling and the gods are a lot more tamed, compared to their original selves. A trial is needed. We may see Persephone fighting for her version to prove to everyone she is Little Miss Perfect. Maybe we will have the immensely boring clichè of the Unexpected Witness we see in every stupid movie, when the lawyer suddenly says, look, they found a witness hidden until now who saw everything! And Persephone is perfect as always!

But nope, we got something much, much stupider.

Instead of the clichè of the Unexpected Witness, we got a walking plot device, who appeared Because Yes, moved the conversation where the author needed Because Yes and delivered the answer of a plot point. Because Yes.

Hear me out: Persephone isn’t a flawed character, how dare you think she is less than perfect? She is Perfection Incarnate and her act of wrath wasn’t her doing this, but Eris making her do it.

Why? Because, when Persephone was born, while other gods blessed her with perfection, Eris blessed her with a “feeling”, i.e. wrath. And this is the reason why she becomes angry: not because it’s a normal feeling and it would make sense that she can experience it, but because of Eris.

No, I'm not making this up and yes, it’s a fucking Sleeping Beauty rip-off. Only worse and more stupid, because it doesn’t acknowledge that Persephone might be flawed like every other character. She is the absolute fucking best forever and ever.

In case you’re wondering: no, this isn’t good writing. That’s the exact opposite of good writing - and the opposite of logical sense too.

Do you want to know what we could've had instead? What about a Persephone who has a real dark side? A goddess who spent so much time trying to appear as the perfect daughter, to grow anger and bitterness inside her? A goddess who, when her friends died, reached a breaking point and let out years of repressed frustration? A goddess who isn’t perfect and not because of Eris, but because she is a gray character?

I would've loved to see it. And it would’ve been great for the romance too: instead of the typical "dark gloomy Hades finds love in the sunny happy Persephone", we could've seen the other way around: a dark Persephone who finds her soulmate in the darkness of Hades.

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Persephone: over-sexualized in the wrong way

Persephone started being sexualized since her first appearance. Not only because Hades stared at her like a fucking creep, but especially because her friend gave her a dress so short to barely cover her boobs and ass. Considering that Artemis is taller than Persephone, my question is: are we sure this was a dress and not an oversized top?

So the female protagonist has been introduced with a feeling of awkwardness and embarrassment, because she is wearing something she doesn't feel at ease with. The first thing we learn about her is that she doesn't like to show too much skin. And, over time, she reconfirms that.

However, we also see her frequently half-naked or almost naked. And this rubs me the wrong way.

Why? Because it has been clearly stated that Persephone is extremely young. She's barely an adult - if you consider 19 years old like "being an adult". And the time skip was so stupid and useless, I didn’t even realize there was a time skip, because she STILL looks like a teen.

Her physical connotations are also accentuated to be the same as a child: round face, big round eyes, very tiny figure. She literally looks like a child in some drawings and that rubbed me even more wrong. Making a youthful character is one thing, making a fucking baby is a different one.

And if we think about it, the first time she and Hades met, she wasn't even wearing clothes, but pure light. And I’m not even sure she was 18, so... bleurgh. Just imagine a naked adolescent on top of an 80-year-old man. Or even just a 50-year-old man. I don’t know you, but I find it fucking disgusting.

And the more the story goes on, the more we see her sexualization. Persephone’s boobs are so big that, if they were real, she would have some serious back pains. Her ass is huge as well and her figure went from a simple hourglass to a literal hourglass, with huge hips and an impossibly tiny waist.

However, this isn't inherently a bad thing... If this goes along with Persephone wanting to be more sexualized. If we saw Persephone wanting to show her skin, to be sexy, to do alluring poses, to be naked, there would be nothing wrong with showing her like this. The art would match the character's desires. And there's nothing wrong if a character (or someone in real life) just wants to be sexier or to show more skin.

But Persephone never wants to. We never see her saying/thinking or even trying to be sexier. She vaguely thinks about it, but everything is kept in a façade of family-friendlyness (despite the, well, almost naked scenes). She never wants to show too much skin, yet she always shows her skin to everyone.

That's not interesting, that's not character growth, that's not even sexy. That's just sad. And, as a woman myself, I do not like to see women being forced into nakedness without wanting it.

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Demeter: incoherence to its finest

In all of this mess, Demeter is treated like a manipulative mother. Why, do you ask? Because Yes, of course!

Let’s just ignore that, in the myth, Demeter is not a manipulative mother, but a simple worried and angry mother, whose daughter got fucking kidnapped and she could not find her. Let’s close both eyes and accept that Demeter is manipulative. Okay? Okay.

Now please tell me when we see her being manipulative, besides the stupid “eclipse” episode in act 3. We always saw her being worried and protective of her daughter, but not manipulative.

And even the overprotectiveness isn’t handled well. If Demeter is so overprotective, then why did she never call, when Persephone was at Artemis’ house? Why did she never pay them more than one visit? Why did she never give Persephone a phone? She could’ve used it to track her every move and call her daily.

But she did not, because she was not an overprotective mother. Her actions were not overprotective, but the simple actions of a worried mother.

But then I suppose Mrs. Smythe needed a villain to start act 3, so Demeter changed and became overprotective and manipulative Because Yes.

The problem is that it’s still by words. I still do not see an evil, manipulative mother. All I see is a mother who has every right to be worried, because Hades is an asshole and Zeus is an even bigger asshole and because patriarchy wins in this “feminist” retelling.

But hey, she’s bad because the plot says so and because Mrs. Smythe needed a villain, so let’s hate her... even though she has all the right to be worried. And even thought most of the time, all she said is perfectly logic and reasonable.

Also, let’s not forget how Mrs. Smythe mistreated her, by taking away a lot of her power and influence. The real Demeter is an insanely powerful goddess, she controls the cycle of seasons and fertility all over the earth. When her daughter disappeared, she basically let everything die. Zeus was forced to intervene and find an agreement, otherwise Demeter would’ve ended life on the planet.

The most powerful thing this Demeter does is put a stupid embargo that Hades and Persephone bypass in 30 seconds. Do you see what I mean when I say that these gods are much more tamed compared to their original counterparts?

Also, this Demeter was used by Zeus for sex with the promise of becoming a queen, which is

disgusting

still part of this weird obsession for sex, rape and sexual assaults

disrespectful towards the mythological goddess, who didn’t give a fuck about the throne because when you’re already this powerful you don’t need much else.

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In conclusion

A story is nothing without good characters and Lore Olympus doesn’t have any: Hades is a ball of nothing, Persephone is so perfect she makes me puke, Demeter doesn’t make any sense and when she does, everyone treats her like a villain.

And I know I said I don’t want to talk about act 3, but the whole Eleusian kid is such a bullshit it deserves at least one mention. What’s the moral of the whole thing supposed to be? That if you know the right people, even death isn’t a problem? That nepotism always win? That Demeter doesn’t give a shit about Persephone, but she was just projecting?

What an absolute waste of time, what an absolute disrespect to Greek mythology and life in general. Death is never underestimated in Greek myths: as I said in my first post, Greek myths are supposed to offer explanations for things humans cannot understand and there isn’t a force as strong and as impenetrable as death. Death is unstoppable and impossible to overcome and it’s treated as such in Greek myths: no one escapes death and the exceptions are few and rare.

So changing a story to make a character escape death is the ultimate proof Mrs. Smythe didn’t understand the Greek myths in general and the myth of that character in particular, because that kid

wasn’t Demeter’s son

died in his myth because death is not a swinging door you can cross whenever and whatever you want

And speaking of Demeter: what this story is supposed to tell me, about her? That she doesn’t care about Persephone so much? The same Demeter, who in Persephone’s myth was grieving her child and because of her sadness, she almost ended life on Earth? The same Demeter, who refused to do anything, until Zeus intervened?

Or maybe Rachel wants to tell me that a mother’s love is finite and you can either love one child or the other? In that case, I really hope this woman has no children at all.

Portraying Demeter as this shitty mother is beyond disrespectful. In the original myth, her love is what changed the cycle of life and death forever. It’s because she fought for Persephone, that she didn’t get stuck in the underworld forever with her kidnapper. It’s because of Demeter’s love, that life blossomed again after the winter.

Lore Olympus is disrespectful towards the original material. And if I find it a waste of potential as a reader and a badly written story as a writer, as a Greek I am just sad. Sad because I’ve already seen a lot of rewritings and this one isn’t as original as I hoped. It doesn’t give me that tingle of pride and joy, it doesn’t make my imagination work. When I read it, I don’t think: “Oh, I remember this figure! And this myth! Can’t wait to see how it will be developed!”. I think: “Oh wow, another clichè. Oh, come on, what kind of solution is that?! That’s just too stupid to handle”.

That’s just sad to see part of your cultural heritage being mistreated. And I feel bad as Italian too, because Romans treated these gods and stories with respect, not by doing stupid, soulless rewrites. I feel insulted

So, do you want a rewrite that doesn’t seem as sad as Lore Olympus? Then check Punderworld. It’s still going on, so it could end up being shitty too, but for now, I think it’s much better than Lore Olympus and much more interesting.

Just an example: the author knows about Hades’ invisibility cloak. That’s something small, sure, but that’s promising. And, at least for now, seeing Hades and Persephone talking about the cycle of life and death is much, much more interesting than “I’m a fertility power battery”, “Bring me Hera because now I’m obsessed with her for no reason”, “I’m such a stupid villain all I can do is cling to other gods because I want power Because Yes”.

So check that and check other rewritings too! Luckily Lore Olympus isn’t the only one: there are a ton of rewritings, both old and new ones. You will find a better one in no time.

And if you enjoy Greek Mythology, then read the original myths too. You will find complex personalities, human flaws, metaphorical stories and much more. After all, there’s a reason why these myths survived the passage of time and they’re still so well known and so beloved despite being so old.

Thank you all so much for your time and thank you for reading these posts.

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(How about a coffee? ☕)

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#lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lore olympus criticism #anti lo #lo critical #greek myth #hades and persephone #hades #persephone #demeter #lo hades #lo persephone #lo demeter #greek mythology

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