#circe was still an immortal goddess

[katerinaaqu]

Epic the Musical:

Circe: Oh my! He cannot be transformed by my powers! What do I do?! What do I do?! Think think I need to protect my nymphs! Oh I know! He's a man after all! I'll seduce the hell out of him to get my power over him back! He clearly can defeat my entourage of wolves and lions all by himself! I mean he's damn immune to my magic! I am sure he can do anything with his sword!

Circe: *aggressive flirting*

Odysseus: Oh my gods oh my gods she is hot...what the hell?! Oh I am just a man! Forgive me... No! Wait! J can't! I love My wife way too much! Please let us go home! I miss my wife!

Circe: Awww that is so sweet! Of course darling. I was always a sucker for a good soap opera. Of course I'll help you free of charge and here's some useful tips for your trip! Drive home safely!

The Odyssey:

Circe: Oh my! This man actually had the AUDACITY to come in my home and threaten me! And he took all precautions (a God helped him no doubt). Finally a man I can consider worthy of standing by my side and not bad looking either!

Circe: Come on, darling. Remove your clothes and let's get down on it! Let's see what you've got!

Odysseus: (oh my! Forgive me Penelope that is the only way to save my men! Hermes told me not to refuse her a thing! She is a freaking goddess that commands all these wild beasts! Power over me or not she's a force to be reconed with!) F-Fine but I cannot do what you ask before I ensure my men are safe. Please release them first and then I will (gods gotta buy myself time! Ain't prepared!)

Circe: *does that*

Odysseus: *sighs* I guess we're doing this...

*A year later*

Odysseus: Okay men you had your fun but I can't keep entertaining her forever! We must go home!

Odysseus: Please Circe let me and my people go! We have to go back

Circe: Oh but can't you stay a bit more?

Odysseus: No...I miss my wife and son

Circe: Fine, my dear, if that's what you want... Your happiness is more important than my satisfaction and I love you so I shall let you go. You paid your price fully. Here are some useful tips for you, some provisions and good luck...

[dootznbootz]

Odysseus was afraid the entire year on Aeaea in the Odyssey.

Content warnings: Rape, Sexual Coercion, Sexual assault, Sex Work, power dynamics, this will also be long as fuck as I talk too much. This is NOT a "Circe the Goddess Hate Post". I call her out but that's it. I tried to keep this neutral but still making a point (Let me know if I gotta put more)

Lots of lovely folks on here have written great essays on what Calypso did to Odysseus as it's soooo blatantly obvious there. It literally states how he cried every day and how he flinched from Calypso, very straightforward on how he was explicitly raped.

But I've noticed that a lot of people are always iffy about Circe's situation (understandably so, it's not so in your face.) She's usually always mentioned in the "Odysseus never cheated! He was raped!" posts but then the evidence is only ever given against Calypso, and then mentioning how you can't say no or disobey the orders of an immortal and how it was in exchange for freeing his men.

WHICH IS ALL CORRECT!!! But!!!

There ARE immortal/mortal couples who genuinely love each other. Dionysus and Ariadne, and Eros and Psyche are examples. Apollo and Hyacinthus. Psyche indeed becomes immortal eventually and in some versions, both Hyacinthus and Ariadne do too. But even while mortal themselves, their immortal lovers still remained respectful and loving towards them and definitely doted on them. There are definitely power dynamics at play here but there's some nuance.

Odysseus and Circe's relationship, however, is very different. We all know he slept with her at the very least once. And that was in exchange for his men being returned to humans. That was the only time it was explicitly stated. With Calypso, it tells you every night he was enchanted and slept beside her. It was the narrator speaking but Odysseus is the narrator now and it's his story. If you think he lied, this probably won't change your mind anyway.

But even if it was a one-time thing, (which isn't the only interpretation and I will have points that talk about others) then why did he stay a year? What was he doing?

I'm doing a deep dive into the year he spent on Aeaea based on evidence in Book 10 and then the beginning of Book 12. Step by step, and honestly I'm writing this for Tumblr, not as a thesis so I will be a bit more casual but still using sources. To me, it's very obvious that he was uncomfortable throughout the text simply based on the language that is used. But it's very subtle and not an outright statement of "He's been crying every day."

BTW, just so we're clear, this is not a "Circe is the root of all evil, etc." type of post.

This isn't meant to villainize her. She's an immortal being and in mythology that changes things. Everybody is morally gray. I genuinely think if we were to ask her feelings on it, she'd probably be like "Oh, yeah! Turned his men into pigs! Strange little man he was." I don't think she gave a flying fuck.

I just simply get pissed tf off when people think Odysseus was fine. It honestly disturbs me how often I'll go on other websites YouTube and see everyone call him a whore and a womanizer. It's sexism at its finest because 1.) "MaN AlwAyS wAnTs sEx" and 2.) women can't rape/coerce. THIS IS SIMPLY TO LOOK INTO HIS FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

This is also only for Homer's Odyssey, using different translations. If you want to discuss this, (I'd be happy to! Just be nice!) DON'T BRING UP ANY OTHER WORKS.

With all that out of the way, come yell with me 🤗

I've read multiple translations, as I know there's going to be bias depending on who's translating. And having done so, each one has basically the same situations described the same so that's nice for consistency. Also, there are some parts in the story that are vague and that we'll never have answers to.

Odysseus first simply sees the smoke from her chimney and then sends his men in, after drawing lots Eurylochus leads half of the men to check out the house. I mentioned here vaguely how the 2 immortals he sleeps with are both introduced while singing and weaving, which could be seen as an enchantment (which to me is most likely. They both possess magic and are goddesses). So I'm just gonna move past that. Just take a peek and come back or just know that enchantment was likely.

Next, I'll see people often joke on Tumblr about how

"Odysseus says that Polites is his best friend yet only mentions him once!"

I think Odysseus mentions his best friend, the one to jubilantly go in first, to show WHY he would go through with this. How much these comrades mean to him. That's his best friend, and there are approximately 20 others who are now pigs as well. Could you knowingly leave one of your best friends to live a life like that knowing you could've done something?

[...]Circe—and deep inside they heard her singing, lifting her spellbinding voice as she glided back and forth at her great immortal loom, her enchanting web a shimmering glory only goddesses can weave. Polites, captain of armies, took command, the closest, most devoted man I had: ‘Friends, there’s someone inside, plying a great loom, and how she sings—enthralling! The whole house is echoing to her song. Goddess or woman—let’s call out to her now!’ So he urged and the men called out and hailed her. She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting them all in, and in they went, all innocence.

(Fagles, Book 10)

In the Odyssey, it's never mentioned why she turns people into animals. I think they were turned into pigs because, throughout the Iliad and Odyssey, Odysseus is often associated with boars. His men are associated with him, therefore: 🐖 Piggy. From what we know, the lads were just eating her food. With how much Xenia and hospitality are a large part of the story, they probably thought they were safe. They were GUESTS. This is especially welcome after the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians. And it literally says "All innocence". They were simply naive.

Then Eurylochus runs back, so terrified that he couldn't speak at first. He then begs Odysseus to just leave the men behind. Odysseus has shown that he does TRY to save his men when it is truly not reckless to do so.

But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here, eating, drinking, safe by the black ship. I must be off. Necessity drives me on.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Then the famous warning from Hermes. I've seen folks bring this up when talking about this. YES, he is literally commanded by Hermes to not refuse her if he wants his men back in basically every translation. It sounds like Circe was warned as well. When? We don't know, but it sounds like Hermes didn't pick "sides" here.

Strange that he was still like, "Sleep with each other" to both, because he could've been like, "Circe, there's this guy named Odysseus. When he comes to this island, change his men back." But who knows, maybe it was Circe's idea from the beginning and Hermes went along with it. Just food for thought.

Now here’s your plan of action, step by step. The moment Circe strikes with her long thin wand, you draw your sharp sword sheathed at your hip and rush her fast as if to run her through! She’ll cower in fear and coax you to her bed— but don’t refuse the goddess’ bed, not then, not if she’s to release your friends and treat you well yourself. But have her swear the binding oath of the blessed gods she’ll never plot some new intrigue to harm you, once you lie there naked— never unman you, strip away your courage!’

(Fagles, Book 10)

But that doesn't explain why he was there for a year afterward! Nor if he himself was okay with it, which is what I'm trying to delve into as he wasn't.

Also the knife thing? She's still immortal. It was meant to startle her. Her dad is Helios. Odysseus would've been toast, literally.

Also note this exchange wasn't a "Yippee! Hermes says I'm going to get laid!".

...just approaching the halls of Circe, my heart a heaving storm at every step, paused at her doors, the nymph with lovely braids— I stood and shouted to her there. She heard my voice, she opened the gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting me in, and in I went, all anguish now …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Another translation by Ian Johnston, (they all say the same thing essentially but trying to make a point.)

I continued on to Circe’s home. As I moved on, my heart was turning over many gloomy thoughts. After I had walked up to the gateway                                                of fair-haired Circe’s house, I just stood there and gave a shout. The goddess heard my voice.                      She came out at once, opened her bright doors, and invited me inside. I entered, heart full of misgivings.

HE👏WAS👏SCARED! The tone is solemn and suspenseful. He was just told that without Hermes' help with the root, he wouldn't be able to survive and bring back his men. Circe was dangerous.

He made her swear not to harm him.

Straightaway she began to swear the oath that I required—never, she’d never do me harm—and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Please note that she NEVER promised that to his men. His comrades did NOT have moli in their systems. He had no way of truly ensuring their safety in any way from Circe.

He then refuses to eat or speak, literally "lost in grim forebodings". If he "just got laid", then why isn't he happy? Not many men can say that a goddess CHOSE to have sex with them. He did it to get his men turned back. It was an exchange. I don't think Circe is "Evil" so maybe it slipped her mind. Or yes, she could've thought, "Hey, I got what I wanted. He's handsome enough. Homer never shuts up about how hot this guy is He hasn't brought up the pigs yet. I'll just let this play out. Maybe HE forgot. I don't have to do anything." We don't know. But Odysseus probably felt like he got deceived.

"Hey, I did my part of the deal. I slept with you. Now do yours."

She pressed me to eat. I had no taste for food. I just sat there, mind wandering, far away … lost in grim forebodings. As soon as Circe saw me, huddled, not touching my food, immersed in sorrow, she sidled near with a coaxing, winged word: ‘Odysseus, why just sit there, struck dumb, eating your heart out, not touching food or drink? Suspect me of still more treachery? Nothing to fear. Haven’t I just sworn my solemn, binding oath?’

So she asked, but I protested, ‘Circe— how could any man in his right mind endure the taste of food and drink before he’d freed his comrades-in-arms and looked them in the eyes? If you, you really want me to eat and drink, set them free, all my beloved comrades— let me feast my eyes.’ So I demanded.

(Fagles, Book 10)

He doesn't trust her despite what she had told him that he should when they sleep together. He has figured out that while she will not hurt him, his men were not a part of that oath, the men he was trying to protect in the first place.

She is then moved by how they rejoice when they see one another again. While turning people into animals for funsies isn't cool and coercion is fucked up, I think she comes to see this group as not quite friends but I think she did find them entertaining in a way.

This is very strange but I've seen some folks say that since Odysseus was pissed at Eurylochus for still not believing him about Circe is proof that "Oh he was trying to defend her!". Which??? Uh, Eurylochus was literally questioning his leadership as a whole. Calling him reckless and shit. He is captain and he's the King, he can't let that shit slide. The text literally says "Mutinous". Also if I had to sleep with someone I did not want to especially if it was to save my friends and I got called names afterward I'd get fucking pissed too.

Only Eurylochus tried to hold my shipmates back, his mutinous outburst aimed at one and all: ‘Poor fools, where are we running now? Why are we tempting fate?— why stumble blindly down to Circe’s halls? She’ll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions made to guard that palace of hers—by force, I tell you— just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all— thanks to this man’s rashness they died too!

They stay a year. Again it's never stated that Odysseus slept with her that whole time. You could interpret that. (Honestly, I feel Circe would get bored with him? She's a goddess, she's got more important matters than mortal men. And she definitely doesn't love him.)

His men DO have to bring it up that "Odysseus has forgotten his native land." Maybe they thought they could sneak out without her knowing??? I am fucking REACHING but hold on as Telemachus did because he knew Nestor would well, be Nestor and try to coax him with "Have a meal with us! Let me tell you about how badass I used to be in my youth." But to sneak away from a goddess? Without her permission? That won't end too well. Aeolus in the beginning kicked out Odysseus when he tried to ask for another bag of wind. If she didn't want him around, she could literally boot him out. While she didn't force him to stay like Calypso did, she didn't "release" him either.

We don't know if they've been asking for a long time. Odysseus does say to Circe that they have been begging him nonstop, but he could also be saying that to try and convince her. He's good at persuasion. I think while he knew he could rely on her for food, shelter, and good advice, he still didn't feel...SAFE with her. I think he was possibly avoiding her personally.

I think HOW he asks her to leave is important to know as well.

...but I went up to that luxurious bed of Circe’s, hugged her by the knees and the goddess heard my winging supplication: ‘Circe, now make good a promise you gave me once— it’s time to help me home. My heart longs to be home, my comrades’ hearts as well. They wear me down, pleading with me whenever you’re away.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Throughout all of Homer's works, the characters grasp another's knees when they are desperate and are literally at the other person's mercy. Priam did when begging Achilles for Hector's body back. The man who literally killed his son and was defiling his body by dragging it around. Leodes grabs Odysseus' knees to beg for his life before Ody kills him. If he saw her as a friend, and not a captor, WHY DID HE FEEL THE NEED TO BEG IN ORDER TO LEAVE?! No one, who is in a healthy relationship, has to BEG for permission to leave. Or to "Break up", if you interpret them as still sleeping together.

And even Circe acknowledges that he is there against his will!

‘Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner, stay on no more in my house against your will.

(Fagles, Book 10)

[...]Odysseus, man of many resources, scion of Zeus, son of Laertes, don’t stay here a moment longer against your will

(A.S. Kline, Book 10)

This is probably another reach that you can ignore but the whole "they wear me down", could be trying to appease her. "Look, you're REALLY cool, it's actually my crew that wants to leave hahahah please don't kill them"

I mentioned before how Telemachus snuck away from Nestor but that was simply out of necessity because he needed to go home now. Not rest for the night. NOW. Nestor is just everyone's grandpa. Menelaus kind of talked more but Telemachus is very straight up in "Please I have to go now" and Menelaus immediately got things ready for him. He never has to beg and clasp his knees. Telemachus was never afraid. Menelaus is a fun uncle and Helen is your cool auntie.

Back to Circe! She tells him instructions for the underworld, they were in her bedroom. But that might've been the only way to speak with her. As even Penelope is usually away from the suitors when they are in her halls, Circe may have done the same. The text never states she played hostess physically. If she was hosting in the halls during the day, why did Odysseus wait until night to talk to her? He could've just asked her while she was on her throne in front of everyone. (He did so with the Phaeacians)

Or maybe he went alone because she only swore an oath to not harm him and so he didn't want his men near if she decided she didn't want to let them go. I could be missing something here so feel free to say something. Idk if this was a pride thing on how "I don't want others to see me beg".

She has info he needs in order to go home as well. She tells him to go to the Underworld.

She gave him new fine clothes and put on pretty clothes herself but that doesn't mean they had sex. Nausicaa gave him nice clothes as well but he never slept with her.

Then he leaves. Immediately. Not even doing a headcount as he didn't realize one of his men had died. (That was negligence on his part but he wanted out) He booked it, to the UNDERWORLD BY THE WAY. Circe even had to sneak the animals he needed for the sacrifice. Odysseus even basically said "She's a goddess. She can do things mortals can't" at the end of the book. And it almost feels...Numb? Solemn? Neutral? Gives a "It is what it is" vibe.

But Circe got to the dark hull before us, tethered a ram and black ewe close by— slipping past unseen. Who can glimpse a god who wants to be invisible gliding here and there?

(Fagles, Book 10)

She’d slipped past us with ease, for who can see a god move back and forth, if she has no desire to be observed?

(Johnston, Book 10)

She's a goddess. She has magic. She can do whatever the fuck she wants.

NOW ON TO BOOK 12!!! That was long! GET A SNACK AND WATER! LUCKILY THIS'LL BE SHORTER!

In Book 11, Odysseus swears, upon all his loved ones in Ithaca, to Elpenor that he'd give him a proper burial as he's been "unwept, unburied". So in Book 12, he sails back to Aeaea to fulfill his promise.

But you know what's funny to me?

He didn't tell Circe he was there.

He didn't even go to greet Circe himself. He sent his men to go get Elpenor's body.

The biggest clue that he didn't love/trust her is that if she was his "Affair partner" then why not go see her for "one last night together"?

SHE came out herself and pulled him aside to know what happened and then gave more advice.

I dispatched some men to Circe’s halls to bring the dead Elpenor’s body. [...]

Nor did our coming back from Death escape Circe— she hurried toward us, decked in rich regalia, handmaids following close with trays of bread and meats galore and glinting ruddy wine. [...]

But Circe, taking me by the hand, drew me away from all my shipmates there and sat me down and lying beside me probed me for details

(Fagles, Book 12)

In every translation, it talks about how he sits, and she lounges/lies down. That's not sex 🙃 In some translations, it even says he tried to be with his shipmates but she pulled him away!

So we lay down and slept beside our ship’s stern cables. But Circe took me by the hand and led me away, some distance from the crew. She made me sit, while she stretched out beside me on the ground. 

(Johnston, Book 12)

Then, she gives advice about the sirens, Charybdis, Scylla, and her father's Cattle. He tries to ask if he could save all his men. She scolds him for even thinking he could try. He again books it out of there.

I think we all know it wasn't "love". But I think a lot of people think Odysseus was willing and happy with whatever this was. "Friends with Benefits", if you will. I guess you could see it that way but I will say that makes me feel itchy with the whole power dynamic and fear. I don't think folks who have that arrangement have to beg on their knees to ask if they can leave though.

I mean the entirety of Book 10 gives me the vibes of "Laughing uncomfortably because you don't want to upset the other person". To just grin and bear it.

A lot of this was just putting the text here and picking it apart step by step. What you do with this is up to you. It's rambling while banging pots and pans together.

Maybe you see him as drugged the entire year and still sleeping together, as the moli "wore off". Even then, just because her magic can't affect him, there are plenty of natural concoctions that can be created that can affect mortals.

Maybe you see the entire year as sex work in exchange for shelter and food.

Maybe he was just alongside his men the whole time under her roof and was avoiding her after the exchange. After he got asked by his men to finally leave, he would start to walk up to that room only to freeze and turn around, thinking "One more day won't hurt. Should wait until I know she's in a sympathetic mood".

I beg of you, however, PLEASE understand that there was fear and coercion throughout his entirety on Aeaea. He wasn't staying to get laid. While there is so much going on and too many things that are left vague to really know exactly what happened, it is consistent that he was scared/numb. Lots of people go through with things they don't really want to do just to appease others. There are plenty of situations of sexual trauma where one person goes through something and the other has no idea the other person isn't okay. ESPECIALLY WHEN SOMEONE CAN HARM THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT AT ANY MOMENT!

Sexual trauma is a very complicated thing and while he was scared, he definitely wasn't as traumatized by her as he was by Calypso. Calypso was a torturous hell while Circe was a year of walking on eggshells. Not comparable but I still think it should be acknowledged. It's wild because I read the Odyssey and kept thinking "Y'all are calling the sex slave a cheater? The guy who slept with a goddess to get his men back? The ultimate simp apparently doesn't love his wife??"

Things I'm adding that shouldn't affect the argument as it is not in the Odyssey but I want to mention as it's a "fun fact": Odysseus' dad was an Argonaut. Laertes probably met Circe as well, (or knew of her) with the whole purifying thing and maybe Odysseus heard his dad tell stories of her. Later myths also have Circe with the habit of turning her crushes (or their lovers) into something with Scylla and Picus.

In conclusion, Yeah, he was afraid of her. At least to an extent. And don't pull the whole "Ancient men didn't get raped". Male victims exist and deserve compassion for what was done to them and women are capable of sexual abuse. If you think otherwise, you are not a true feminist and Fuck you. I said in the beginning this'll be casual and I don't wanna write a fancy ending. You can still think Circe is neat but you have to know that this was fucked up.

If you think a lot of this is bullshit or wanna give more context or wish to yell with me but still know he wasn't alright on Aeaea, cool. If you want to point out mistakes or something I should keep in mind with interpretations then feel free to say so but give text evidence. If you try and bring up the Telegony and/or Madeline Miller's Circe, fuck clean off. This is Homer. If you call Odysseus a whore and not the malewife he canonically is I'll start biting. 😤

[merp-blerp]

TW: Discussion of sexual assault and suicidal ideation

I've been seeing some debate about Calypso and whether or not she sexually assaulted Odysseus and I want to throw in my two cents.

I'll say straight out of the gate that I don't currently like her much. I feel pretty icky about her personally.

Comparing Ody's behavior in Epic prior to "Love in Paradise" vs during the song feels so... clearly different. He seems very traumatized by whatever has been happening on that isle. It almost feels out of character for him to consider dying instead of fighting to get home alive like he had been, but putting myself in his shoes I can see how he came to that through what's textually known. He has been trapped on that isle for 7 years—that's nearly a decade, with no way to get out, everyone he knows and loves dead or far away with no way to know where he is or if he's alive. While I obviously would never think that's a good decision, I can see how he got to the point of wanting to end it. And if he's been sexually assaulted like he was in The Odyssey, I understand it more due to how that can warp a person's mental health.

I've seen some say, "Calypso is just a sweetie who doesn't know how to love properly" (paraphrasing of an actual comment I've seen). Even if she really just doesn't know how to care for a mortal, as many of the gods seemingly don't, I think she understands her power over mortals with her "Bow down now to the immortal Calypso" comment. She also understands that Odysseus doesn't want her, with the first part of her response to Ody's threats being "Oh handsome, you may try". She knows that he may try to escape by killing her (even though she can't die). Honestly, why would she feel the need to trap him if she didn't know good and well that he would want to escape her? She knew what she was doing was something that would make him want to run. Calypso being a goddess automatically gives their dynamic a power imbalance of course. Even though the assault is only implied, the fact that she's trapping Ody against his will, super infatuated by him, and still says "Soon, into bed we'll climb and spend our time", makes me feel like the indication is clear. What's stopping her from trying to have "sex" with him (sex isn't sex without consent)? She's already ignored all his declines. She seems to think that forcing her "love" onto him will make him love her. Yes, she uses lovey-dovey language so I doubt it would've appeared violent, but sexual assault doesn't have to look violent and the perpetrator doesn't have to appear aggressive. It's telling that I've seen some say, "Save that energy for Antinous" because Antinous is much more obviously bad, but this kind of thing isn't always obvious. That kind of assault is still extremely traumatizing whether it's sugarcoated as if it's love or not. It's dismaying that some reactions to Calypso bypass her potential assaulting or "She's weird, but she seems to care for him!" And since the sexual part of the assault is technically subtext (for now, who knows about later), I'll say that even if Calypso didn't sexually harm him, she still forces physical and verbal intimacy onto him and traps him so he can't leave. We see that. That's still assault. The only reason why I don't feel similarly about Epic's version of Circe is that her intent wasn't to have sex with Ody but to distract and throw him off with talk of sex so she could stab him as he's vulnerable; Circe never wanted to have sex with Ody in actuality. Calypso's intent was romantic intimacy and she didn't care if Odysseus said no, she completely bypassed it. Calypso saying "You're mine, all mine" feels as threatening as Circe's "I've got you" was meant to be.

Anything can change between now and the next two sagas. It could either be fully confirmed or denied that sexual assault took place. I actually don't expect either, as I don't think Jay would go too deep into such a traumatic concept in Epic, but then again I also didn't expect suicidal ideation to be brought up at all and it absolutely shocked me when it was, so I could be wrong. But whether it's confirmed or not, I don't blame any Epic fans who don't like Calypso or even hate her over what she did and what it's implied she did. It's icky watching some fans tell others they shouldn't hate Calypso because of this or that as if this isn't a sensitive and complex topic. It's creepy. I don't think we should tell people not to hate a character associated with sexual assault. The sexual assault might be subtext, but subtext is important and sometimes is implemented intentionally. Not every part of a story is going to be given to you at face value. Just because "Epic didn't say that" doesn't mean that the implication doesn't matter. People interact with stories in different ways, so you can disagree with others—no one can take that from you, but you don't get to tell someone they can't feel a certain way about a character. I don't like saying this because I really shouldn't have to put it in this perspective for it to be understood, but I can't help but feel like if Calypso and Ody's genders were swapped some people would treat this implication differently. Sexually or not she hurts him.

Normally I don't like taking lore from The Odyssey and automatically applying it to Epic, as Epic has changed a lot of rules from The Odyssey because Jay wants to tell this story his own story. For example, I personally choose not to assume Eury and Ody are brothers-in-law in Epic like they are in The Odyssey because that hasn't been stated in Epic so far. But to me, the implications of Ody's sexual assault are there enough for me personally to think that it might take place in both stories. Jay seems to want Epic to be accessible to many people, so it doesn't surprise me that this element of The Odyssey was brought up in a more subtextual/"hinted at" way.

Calypso is a very interesting character, maybe the most out of all the Epic antagonists so far for me, but we don't have to think of her as not doing anything wrong in order to enjoy that character, her songs, her cute physical character design, or Barbara Wangui's beautiful voice.

[The remainder of this post contains potential spoilers for the unreleased (to date) Vengeance Saga under the cut]

[Edit: Now complete with some post-Vengeance Saga release points]

Another defense of Calypso I've seen is that in the snippets for "I'm Not Sorry for Loving You", Ody says he loves Calypso, but not in the way she wants him to. This could mean they're friends and therefore doubt about the sexual assault could be cast.

It's hard to assess this because the saga's not out yet, but it's worth remembering that abuse can come out of care, in a complicated way. You can care for someone so much you end up hurting them, usually out of wanting to control them. Calypso seems to fit that concept. And most Epic snippets don't give full context, naturally, so who knows why Ody says this at the moment. Maybe he means it, or maybe he's bluffing to guarantee he'll get what he wants (which is to be set free in this instance), like when meeting Athena, or to appease a god, like when "apologizing" to Poseidon in "Ruthlessness". And of course, victims don't have to hate their perpetrators if they choose not to. Odysseus can care about Calypso and she can still have hurt him really badly. Both of these things can be true.

The way I read it, Calypso doesn't love Odysseus like she thinks she does. She's infatuated by him and cares for him enough to not be obviously cold like all the other obstacles Ody faced initially are. She declares that she loves him as soon as he wakes up on her isle without knowing him at all. She didn't even know his name. The washed-up person on her isle could've been anyone and she likely would've "loved" them. Calypso only loves Ody because he stops her loneliness, not for who he is. When she begins to state that she loves him she doesn't even know him. Over the 7 years, she seems to have potentially gotten to know him a bit, saying "I know your life's been hard", but Odysseus himself asserts that she doesn't really know what he's been through. You can call someone (against their will, let me remind you) "my dear, my love for life" all you want, but that doesn't mean you love them. Ody's her first companion in years if not ever, of course she cares for him on a basic level. She won't kill him or let him jump off a cliff. But she doesn't love him or treat him like a human and obey his boundaries and wants. She treats him like an object or pet she owns and has to guard.

In "I'm Not Sorry For Loving You" Calypso says that Ody is all she's ever known because she was abandoned. It's understandable that she would latch onto a living creature after being alone for so long. But that's not necessarily love, at least not to me. If I love someone I wouldn't bypass their refusal to do something. And I wouldn't trap them with me and not let them go, even when they're about to jump off a cliff because they see no way out. I'm not sure if Calypso means to bring malice, she at least says she "bring(s) no pain", but she does regardless or if she intends to. Calypso hasn't had anyone in her company, let alone someone to love, for so long, maybe in her whole life. That's why she doesn't know what love is, so of course when she catches fickle feelings for Odysseus she assumes that's love and has no clue what to do with her "love", as she admits in "I'm Not Sorry For Loving You". Calypso's actions are understandable, but that doesn't mean they're excusable or not abusive. What she does to him is understandable, but selfish and only serves herself, which isn't what you do to someone you love. Note that the way I use understandable here does not equate to forgivable, it just means conceivable. And her apology to him really waters down the magnitude of her actions, saying she "pushed" him, "came on too strong", and that her love might've been "too much" for Ody.

I apologize for this being such a long rant, but I wanted to cover all the excuses for Calypso I'd seen and speak my mind on why I think they're misguided at best.

Post-Vengeance Saga Edits:

Now that The Vengeance Saga has been released, I can comfortably say that I still don't like Calypso, and I think this saga just encourages me to do that. I wasn't anticipating the entirety of "I'm Not Sorry for Loving You" to basically have been featured in the snippets. I was expecting the official song to give more context, maybe showcasing Ody and Calypso having a dialogue, but no! That was really it. And I'm honestly happy for it. It seems like the show recognizes that Calypso is in the wrong, with the way we aren't meant to really ruminate on Ody leaving her. The excuse I talked about above using the theory that Calypso and Odysseus would turn out to have been friends because he said he loved her? I just don't think that held much water by release. I particularly want to point out the way @gigizetz drew Ody's face as he leaves in the commissioned animatic from Jay's stream:

While I can't say for certain that he doesn't mean the "I love you" in some way... he doesn't look like he means it to me. There's no lovey-softness in his eyes, like you might have when you look at your friends when saying I love you. He looks beaten down. Tired. Above, I proposed that Ody might just be blowing smoke to further get what he wants from her. I don't think there's quite enough insight for me to say I was necessarily right on that, but Ody doesn't actually appear that attached to her, certainly not enough so for me to confidently say that I think his "I love you" is genuine. He doesn't even look like he'll miss her, he looks beyond ready to go as she shouts, not pained by her tears. Honestly, Ody might've just said that so she'd stop talking so he could leave. Now there is one more saga left, so maybe he'll wistfully mention or remember her, but I'm not really expecting it based on the official visuals that Jay okay'd. Humbly, I'll say that I don't think Odysseus feels much for Calypso. We don't get happy moments of them together and not even a proper goodbye filled with mutual pain. We just get her backwards apology that basically says, "Sorry I hurt you, but not fully. Shut up and let me talk about me and justify why I trapped you. Wish you'd stop rejecting me despite the fact that I've hurt you. Let me shout that I hate that I fell for you—only because this hurt me unlike I wanted when I kidnapped you—who cares if it hurt you." This moment is not at all a redemption for Calypso. It's her downfall. Her negative character arc. She didn't want to be alone so bad she trapped a person against his will and now she is alone forever (in this show). She can't even have Ody as a friend (and she won't accept purely his friendship anyway based on how the song ends). Who knows how different things would've been if she had just been more... normal when he washed up on her isle? The situation was tragic for them both in different ways, but I'm not sorry for Calypso. Calypso is so interesting as a character. Side-lining her actions just bards us from being able to assess her.

[spuffyfit]

Hi so apparently people are defending Calypso now?? Guys what happened ???

I understand that Ody was the first human contact she’d had in years, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that she still disregarded the fact that he was married!

‘Tell me though, Who’s Penelope?’

‘She’s my wife.’

‘Anyway-’

And no, Wanting someone who’s taken isn’t wrong! It becomes a problem when you actively attempt to pursue that person despite them both having a spouse AND telling you to stop?

Not to mention their clear power dynamic, With Calypso being a Goddess / Nymph and bragging about how her island is hidden away??

‘Bow down to the Immortal Calypso!’ / ‘Last I checked, Goddesses don’t die.’ / ‘No one can come or go! My island stays unknown!’

Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to like an antagonistic character, I’m a fan of many of those types of characters such as Jason Dean / JD from Heathers, Morro / Garmadon From ninjago, Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, but it becomes a problem when you’re justifying their actions, Let’s use J.D. for example!

If I were to Justify J.D. blowing up Westerburg High because kids were assholes and he lost his mother, that would be wrong, because yes, While losing loved ones and being bullied with no particular good influences in life can result in you being reckless, that still didn’t give him the right to blow up an entire school????? Not to mention there were innocent people in there too?

And I even saw some people comparing Calypso to Circe?

Circe not only backed off when Ody explained that he had a wife to go home to, but helped him too! And not even just that, she wasn’t even seriously trying to seduce him?? If you were on the stream for the vengeance saga then you would know that Circe was hiding a dagger. She was trying to KILL Odysseus for the purpose of protecting her nymphs, because what would you do if some guys just came storming into your hometown after you lost almost everything because you let some strangers live last time??

Calypso on the other hand had nothing to protect, and obsessed over Ody all on her own. I understand that no one taught her how to love properly, but if you really loved someone, would you constantly push their boundaries even after being told it’s harming them? I would hope not, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

By the way, Epic!Calypso is not cursed, that’s PJO!Calypso!

Sorry if this comes off as harsh, But cmon guys ☹️

@indigo-greer-collins @literallyangelshaw (thank u guys for helping me w this)

[kevgansey]

couldn't help but think constantly about season 2, like we are getting introduced to new characters (and new cast members 💓💓), but mostly because of annabeth. i've always seen som and botl as annabeth's books, they let you understand her personality, what she wants, what she is.

so there's some of the annabeth's moments that i really exacted/hope to see in the next season cause i know leah would EAT these parts yeah

“we could use your intelligence” “because you have none on your own!”

on princesse adromeda where luke is talking to both annabeth and percy, and he tries to convince annabeth to join him, pushing on something that he knows annabeth is extremely attached to, her intelligence. annabeth tries to stay strong, to don't freak out about how, her long time friend, her brother has turned out. even with this sense of sadness she is always the sassy little queen that we have been introduced in the first book !

CC.

i love the scene at circe's. and i can't wait and i do really HOPE to see the reyna/hilla cameo. i guess this scene is important because in some ways we see annabeth give up immortality for percy. and this is just the first time.

the whole backstrory with cyclops and it will be even better if we get some flashbacks

every single memory from her childhood is important to the construction of her character, there wouldn't be annabeth if there wasn't her memories. i guess this part of her story is important to let the reader (and in future the watcher) think about how much bad things annabeth went though since the age of seven. she has been fighting monsters since she was seven.

the sirens scene

okay, this is mostly percabeth BUT i just love how determined annabeth is in that scene, yeah i know that lot of people would consider her actions pretty stupid but be honest with yourself. first of all she was 13, she was a child, second thing, because of that we are getting introduced to her fatal flaw, pride. in that moment annabeth didn't know if she would had another chance to listen to the sirens so she took the opportunity that she had.

“ Three people sat on a picnic blanket in Central Park. A feast was spread out before them. I recognized Annabeth’s dad from photos she’d shown me-an athletic-looking, sandy-haired guy in his forties. He was holding hands with a beautiful woman who looked a lot like Annabeth. She was dressed casually-in blue jeans and a denim shirt and hiking boots-but something about the woman radiated power. I knew that I was looking at the goddess Athena. Next to them sat a young man … Luke.

The whole scene glowed in a warm, buttery light. The three of them were talking and laughing, and when they saw Annabeth, their faces lit up with delight. Annabeth’s mom and dad held out their arms invitingly. Luke grinned and gestured for Annabeth to sit next to him-as if he’d never betrayed her, as if he were still her friend.

Behind the trees of Central Park, a city skyline rose. I caught my breath, because it was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It had been totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever-with golden windows and rooftop gardens. It was better than New York. Better than Mount Olympus. ”

this part is just so extremely dear to me. we see what annabeth really wanted. her dad, her mom, her brother and her biggest desire to create building because she wants to be remembered through them. the things that we don't see in this scene are percy and thalia. thalia, she is gone, annabeth would neved see her again so why even think about her as someone who would come back in her life, and percy. percy, that she already consideres as her percy. she knows that she already has him in her life. this scene is so sad and full of meaning we see the cruelest desire that annabeth has. she wants her family back. she wants to be someone one day. and she wants to feel proud of herself.

[goldhawk18]

Got inspired by @callimara, so here's my sona redesigned into Epic the Musical!!

I'm still working on her lore, but she has something to do with Winter.

Some say she was blessed by Demeter to become the personification of the season, others claim she ascended to godhood due to her loneliness and her intense desire to create wonders. And yet others whisper that she was simply excluded by the Horae, the triad of Seasons.

What can be sure is that this goddess wields her snowflake sword and graces the landscapes with her prowess. She represents both the beauty and danger of Winter. With the way she guides creatures to hibernation and coats their fur with white. The way she freezes water over into slippery sheets and cracking lines.

Usually, she can be seen frolicking around, pushing the boundaries of her power with experimentation (no wonder every single snowflake is unique). She is at home in the snow, and she sometimes disguises herself as a mortal to play with children and their friends. She delights in their joy and laughter.

Beware her wrath, though, when her sharp tresses pale and her eyes glow, frost trickling over the surface of her smooth skin. She will fill your bones with dread and despair, your body shaking and succumbing under the pressure of her strength, your pulse slowing down till it eventually stops.

When she's not on duty, she usually relaxes in hot springs and revels in a job well done. She takes the time to change her clothing, as she is as fickle as she is vivacious.

Her sacred animal is the snow leopard, elusive and athletic. It suits her well. You never know when she might sneak up on you, whether that may be a good thing or not.

Fun fact, she may or may not harbor feelings for the sorceress Circe, and she has no idea what to do about it. Myths vary, but most agree that she somehow came upon the island of Aeaea by way of her inquistive nature (she is a curious being and tends to explore when she's bored). She introduced herself, and tried not to melt from how bright and lively the witch was. She had never felt so...warm in such a strange, unfamiliar manner throughout her immortal life. Needless to say, after an entire year of visiting Aeaea everyday, the goddess had found herself yearning for Circe.

That's all I've got so far, but thank goodness for Milanote (not sponsored) in helping me figure out how to get from point A to point B.

I may or may not redesign her into Hades soon, but we shall see where the magic takes us. Which reminds me, I'll definitely draw her interacting with Calvalia in the future hehe

[heliomanteia]

ngl its nice to finally see some actual analysis/understanding for Calypso compared to the rest of the fandom's immediate hatred and demonizing. All the other gods in Epic do just as terrible things to Odysseus but they get so much adoration from the fandom regardless of that. I'm just so confused on why the sudden hatred for this one goddess in particular came from. I could understand if it was just people reacting emotionally to Calypso's actions, but this feels different from that. What is it about this goddess that makes everyone react borderline violently?

"We need more complex female characters" — "you couldn't even handle Calypso" etc.

Calypso (overall but specifically her Epic self as the musical expands on her feelings) is very, very interesting to me.

I think part of the reason behind the fandom's reaction is the expected knee-jerk response to a character implied to sexually force another person. It's very hard for people to look past that veil and try to analyze the character beyond that surface level. I know that Epic is rather vague with what Calypso did/did not do but I choose to believe at least some physical intimacy is implied by both Love in Paradise and Not Sorry for Loving You. Even if not, it's still imprisonment — something very common in mythology, as you point out, though it's extremely rare that it's coming from a woman towards a man.

I don't know if it's deeper than that or not because Epic portrayed her pretty accurately to the source. People seem to very eagerly accept Circe and Circe's perspective despite it also coming from the place of power imbalance and intimidation, probably because the musical offered her narrative from a more sympathetic side. Maybe it's because most people sympathize with Odysseus? I personally think that he gets exactly what he worked for. I don't hate him but he's also not my poor baby boy either, #TrojanSquad

Also, I would be more willing to side with the "black and white" thinkers if this was a mortal character. Like, I understand people that have very strong feelings about Antinous (sort of, since Epic removed his young(er) age) because he's mortal and he's overstepping boundaries known to him and understood by him. But Calypso is a Goddess/Nymph and there's a lot of theory regarding the reception of the narrative of divine-to-mortal assault/enforcing of anything.

Calypso was not analyzed from her POV before Epic. In the Odyssey, she's a narrative tool: the perfect maiden (literally perfectly concealed! in ancient logic, any man would want her) who has not known anyone prior to Odysseus offering him dwelling, family, and immortality. Odysseus rejecting her is him rejecting every gift a man can have; much like with the Sirens, though then he was held back. The Odyssey is a big, long journey through various obstacles and rejection/overcoming of said obstacles and Calypso has no voice in that story, in a way. We knew nothing about her feelings aside from her showing frustration that Gods seem to have such an issue with Goddesses taking in lovers (much like you do, isn't it ironic).

Epic explores her as unapologetic and her feelings as genuine while also showing her actions as wrong (though she does not agree). I love it. Love fucking sucks sometimes, you know? People do cruel, horrible things justified by love (even Odysseus himself, Mr. "I will do anything to be with my wife, even war crimes"). There's so much to explore about her character because she literally has close to no known lore.

Thank you for sending it in, I'm rotating her in my head.

[burningvelvet]

Powerful women from the classical world + excerpt of a letter from Lord Byron to Thomas Moore describing his lover Margarita Cogni (Venice, September 19th, 1818):

“I wish you a good night, with a Venetian benediction, ‘Benedetto te, e la terra che ti fara!’ — ‘May you be blessed, and the earth which you will make!’ — is it not pretty? You would think it still prettier if you had heard it, as I did two hours ago, from the lips of a Venetian girl, with large black eyes, a face like Faustina’s, and the figure of a Juno — tall and energetic as a Pythoness, with eyes flashing, and her dark hair streaming in the moonlight — one of those women who may be made any thing. I am sure if I put a poniard into the hand of this one, she would plunge it where I told her, — and into me, if I offended her. I like this kind of animal, and am sure that I should have preferred Medea to any woman that ever breathed.”

The mythical and historical allusions:

In Roman myth, Juno was Queen of the Gods as well as a military figure often depicted armed. In Greek myth, Medea was a sorceress who gets revenge against her unfaithful husband through murdering their children and his lover. Although “Pythoness” could refer to demonic witches in other uses, Byron is using it here as another name for Pythia or the Oracle of Delphi, a divine priestess and the most powerful female office in the ancient world.

Faustina is either a reference to the Younger or the Elder. Faustina the Younger was the wife of Marcus Aurelius; he revered her so much that he gave her enormous power, although later historians (probably falsely) accused her of being a murderer and adulteress. Faustina the Elder was the adoptive mother of Marcus Aurelius and was one of the most beloved Roman women in history, whose coinage often features Juno.

Byron's life and writing in context:

When he was living abroad in self-exile, Byron often sought to entertain his friends back home by sharing his adventures in lurid detail. His vivid letters became well-read throughout the 1800s, and are considered some of his best writing. Travel writing and adventure stories were extremely popular in the 19th century, and even most of Byron’s fiction champions these themes. Living abroad and traveling became marketable parts of Byron's celebrity. He blended his own experiences into his work, and chief among these were his romantic experiences.

Shelley once compared Byron to the Greek myth of Circe when writing in a letter about Byron's excessive amount of pets. Circe was known for seducing men and turning them into animals who roamed around her palace. Like a witch or an alchemist, Byron frequently transformed his lovers into characters through his writing. Like countless others, Margarita Cogni was mythically immortalized through the writer's description of her. She and Byron's other Venetian lovers have become part of the wider Romantic era mythology tradition, like the constantly retold tales of Mary Shelley's invention of Frankenstein, Percy Shelley's drowning, and John Keats' love for Fanny Brawne.

By using references to classical women in this letter Byron is not only paying tribute to mythology, history, and the Italian landscape in a way that his foreign audience would find tantalizing, but he is also exploring romanticized notions of classical female beauty which are at turns conventional and unconventional. He channels the gothic sublime through the otherworldly power and danger these women all represent, as well as channeling more traditional concepts of feminine strength rooted in modesty, beauty, and passivity. Byron creates poetic contradictions.

Just as he famously describes himself as “changeable, being everything by turns and nothing long,” he utilizes paradox and inconstance in his writing, such as in this satirical formulation of Margarita Cogni as the ideal lover who is both Goddess and woman, mistress and slave, contemporary and classical, masculine and feminine, wife and adulteress, murderess and murdered.

One can clearly see how this is the same chameolonic, binary-blurring poet who would go on to write the gender-bending themes of Don Juan — “If people contradict themselves, can I / Help contradicting them, and every body, / Even my veracious self?” — and who years beforehand had written She Walks in Beauty — where “all that’s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes.”

[wild-dagon]

As someone whose LOVE Epic the Musical for years (watching it progress on tictok) and Linked Universe

Let me drag you all down a rabbit hole with me.

Time is Odysseus 

He leaves his wife and young son to go and fight in a war

He struggles through all the monsters to make it back home

Malon is Penelope

His loyal wife awaiting his return.

Is constantly sought by suitors who want to marry her and take over Times kingdom/land but she keeps refusing them believing her husband is still alive

Twilight is Telemachus

Times some who grew up not knowing his father.

He grew up hearing stories of his heroic father but has never truly met him.

Wants to protect his mom from all of the suitors and keep their home safe

When he challenges the suitors they literally call him ‘little wolf.’

One of the goddesses can be Athena

Maybe Nayru since she is also the goddess of Wisdom

Or Farore since she is the goddess of courage and has been tied to Link.

Or Hylia herself as Athena favors Odysseus and Hylia favors Link

Saria is Aeolus

A male god in the original myth but sung by a woman in the musical, they are the god of winds and traps all the winds from a storm in a bag so that Odysseus can get home.

However they make it a game sending down little minions to whisper to the crew that the bag is filled treasure leading to them opening the bag and releasing the storm

Ruto is Calypso

The goddess who falls in love with Odysseus and traps him on her island promising him immortality if he stays.

He refuses her and returns home to his wife

Just as Tito falls in love with Link in Ocarina of Time.

Zelda(lullaby) can be either Helen of Troy or Circe

I prefer Helen as that is the woman the men, Odysseus/Time went to save in the first place.

The other Lu boys….

Maybe time left when Twilight was 3/4ish he doesn’t remember him at all and Wild was a baby making them brothers

Maybe Warriors was a boy who fought in the war and knew Time. Or more likely his father did. Maybe that’s who Twilight goes to ask for help in getting ride of the Suitors. He visits Warriors father and meets Warriors. Or heir fathers were Shield brothers making them sort of cousins.

The other boys live in Lon Lon (Ithaca) maybe their fathers were part of Times forces and he takes them in when he is the only one to return home.

It’s a rough idea but it’s bounce around my head for a while

[achaotichuman]

What's your thoughts about Circe!Tamlin AU. Like the incident between tam-tam and Rhys, Tamlin managed to save his brothers but not his father and mother.

So his brother is the highlord, but in honor of the memory of their mother he banished Tamlin to an island for all eternity far off from the spring coast, and Tamlin is just there chilling, planting his garden, making elixirs and potions all that.

Sorry my brainrot is attacking me out of nowhere and I'm reminded of MM Circe all over again, Also hi! How are you :3

Hi! I'm very well thank you. Alright bear with me here, I had no idea who Circe was until I looked her up, what I found on the internet was she is an enchantress and minor Greek goddess, and I looked up MM Circe and I'm finding a book by a woman named Madeline Miller so I'm going to assume that's what your referencing, forgive me if I'm wrong. But I've now read the summary of the plot of Circe, and it sounds incredibly interesting, and her story looks fascinating.

I may know very, very little about Circe, but I do know a heck of a lot about Tamlin and I think this prompt is a very interesting one indeed. Here's how I think this scene would go.

Baile stood up, as proud and tall as he always had been. Even covered in his own blood and trembling from the wounds he had sustained, Tamlin, looking up from his place on the floor, was once again reminded the man before him was two hundred years old than himself. Bigger, stronger, mightier, fiercer.

Even mightier now. Tamlin watched as their father's now lifeless body, laying on the cold hardwood floors, shriveled up like a dried rose petal. The windows of his parents bedroom slammed open as a wind swept through like a hurricane, magic Tamlin presumed, that wind carried away his father's ashes. Spreading them back out over the lands.

Baile watched with mild disinterest, then it hit. The High lords power rocked Rosehall. Tamlin folded over the body in his arms, the body of his mother. He slapped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, like he could block out the pulsing of power that thumped through the Spring Court. A new High lord, a new heartbeat to follow.

The land had chosen the eldest Spring Prince for its High lord. When the pulsing finally ceased Tamlin tentivily looked up, he saw his brother staring down at him. Eyes glowing a bright green before it receeded, leaving a deep emerald green in his eyes, replacing the gold-speckled eyes that matched Tamlin's. Those green eyes were every part their father. So the green was the a side-effect of the High lords power, had their father once had eyes like them?

Tamlin met his brother's flaming eyes, then he looked down, bowing his head low, showing respect for the male before him. No longer his brother, but his High lord.

"Get up." Baile ordered.

"High lord-" Tamlin began, his voice quivering.

"Get up." Baile's voice was now filled with the power of Spring. The High lord's authority. Tamlin's body reacted of its own will, not giving him a choice in the matter. He gently slid his mother's lifeless frame off of his knees and stood up. Shaking horribly and covered in red.

Tamlin kept his eyes to the floor, every bruise and cut aching from what they had done to him. His head was still pounding from the faebane his own father had forced him to consume right after drugging him so he would blindly reveal the location of Rhysand's mother and sister.

"Get out." Baile whispered.

At that Tamlin finally looked up, eyes wide, fear flooding him. Causing his knees to nearly give out, "Baile-."

"You will address me as your High Lord." Baile commanded and Tamlin was helpless but to comply.

Tamlin looked back down at the floor, and Baile delivered his first command as the reigning Lord of the Spring Court, "You will go to out to isles set between the territories of Spring and Hybern. There, you are to live out the rest of your immortal life, never to return to Fae or Human society. This deed is done in the name of Dahlia Fairburn, former Lady of the Spring Court. Our mother."

He could never return...

What about Andras? Lucien and Jesminda? Could he never see any of them again? Could he even say goodbye?

.... What about Rhysand?

"Please my Lord, reconsider-"

"Leave." The High lords words were final.

Tamlin obeyed. He glanced one final time at his mother, her golden curls, the exact same as his matted with blood, her eyes wide and lifeless. Then he ran. He ran as fast as he could, Rosehall was blur to his eyes, then he was in the forests. Then his memory became a faint haze.

He briefly remembered travelling the sea. The sickening feeling of blood caked and drying on his skin, the numbness he had felt, and the empty feeling of 'what now?'

He supposed he knew what now. He was in exile, never to return to his home again. Never to see the Spring sunrise, nor his mother's gardens. He would never hear the laughter of the River Fey children. He would never sneak through the Spring Court woods to try and trap a turtle dove. He would never see anything from his old life again.

He would never see anything from his old life again.

He faintly remembered the ship passing through a strait, a small strip of the sea that cut two of the islands beside it in half. Tamlin remembered standing on the deck, looking at the Spring Court Emblem waving on the sail, then winnowing. He barely remembered it, the faebane must've worn off meaning he had been at sea for some time.

He remembered standing on green grass, alone. The wind billowing through his hair. His now tattered, dirty clothing feeling like a second skin with how long they had been on him. He remembered first feeling alone and afraid.

Then he looked up at the clear blue sky. A raven flew free through the air. Creating a shadow on the ground. It circled around Tamlin like it was calling to him, then took off. Tamlin found himself stepped forward, then walking a little faster, then taking off in a sprint after the raven.

A laugh echoed through the world and Tamlin realized it was his own.

Free.

No more bruises, no more hurt, no more broken bones, no more name-calling and beating.

He was finally free.

**************************************

Centuries passed and Tamlin had found his place in the world.

He had built a small cottage on the isle. It was made from the dark oak growing on the land. Over time he had perfected it. It was small, and rustic, but he loved as much as he had Rosehall. He had created things over the years. Learned to harvest the herbs that grew freely over the land. He had used the Spring magic he did possess to grow more. He learned how to wring out drops of magic from the plants, ground magic was a beautiful thing.

With a little magic from an herb that he now grew in the garden he had made sitting outside, he had been able to turn spider silk into thread to weave. He made all his clothing from the silk of webs he found around his house, and from boiling the bark of trees in an elixir to turn it soft like fabric.

As of right now, he was knee deep in his gardens. Hands dirty and calloused. The shade of the large oak standing proud over his cottage was a welcome presence. Tamlin gently extracted the parsley he had been growing from its pot. He murmured soft gentle praises to the plant as if it were a child as he carefully placed it in the hole he had dug into the soil bed.

He continued his work long into the day. Once the sun began to set, he took a basket and began to harvest his dinner. Heading back inside he roasted the vegetables, cut up fruit and began to make bread dough.

A small bird landed on his windowsill, followed by another, then another and another, until a flock had appeared. Tamlin sighed, then smiled and took a bag of seeds from a cupboard in his kitchen. He opened the window and scattered the seeds outside.

The birds chirped quickly and impatiently as they fought for the first pick of the seeds. Tamlin laughed as he watched and began to firmly knead the dough.

Once the dough was left to rise, Tamlin walked over to his fireplace. Where a small cauldron boiled and bubbled over the flames. He took a jar of dried herbs off of the mantlepiece and tossed a handful into the mixture. Immediately a puff of purple smoke emitted, and the cauldron's contents began to turn to a ruby red color.

It was a healing potion. Tamlin made a few jars every couple of months. It was good to have it around. In case of wounds or injuries. Or in the odd case, he found an animal injured or dying on his island.

Once dinner was done and the healing potion was cooling off in jars. Tamlin stepped out onto his front porch. There was a rocking chair in the corner which he sat down in. Taking a notebook from the pocket between realms, he opened it up and began to write a poem. It was something simple, the conclusion to the day.

He had hundreds of books now, thousands of poems, thousands of songs he had written. They would eternally go unheard.

But he would still sing them to the stars and the sun.

The world may not hear him, but Tamlin hadn't gone quiet.

His songs still carried on the wind. And if he listened very closely, sometimes he could hear the High lord of Spring singing back to him.

I had a lot of fun writing this, again I don't know much about Circe, but this is what I came up with. Thank you for the prompt!

[percabeth4life]

Is Circe immortal? I know she is Helios daughter but what is she?

Also was helios a good dad to his daughters I know he had like 12

Circe is a Goddess of Sorcery/Magic. Some specify her specifically as a Goddess Nymph but that is still a Goddess. She is immortal, yes.

There isn't much written about Helios with his children to my memory, but Circe did invoke him in some of her sorcery. He did also bestow many gifts onto Aeetes, one of his sons, and gifted Medea, one of his daughters, her winged serpent drawn chariot. Both are considered amongst his favorites.

[katerinaaqu]

opinions on the telegony? do you think it deserves all the hate it gets?

Well for starters one must think that Telegony is yet another piece of ancient literature; written for a specific purpose of its time. People are of course mad at it because it has some fundamental differences with the style Homer has. And here come the differences and contradictions

In Telegony,we follow from where Homer left things and follow as Odysseus goes to his redemption trip to the mainland (according to Tiresias prophecy), we also have Circe who has apparently not just Telegonus but plenty of children with Odysseus. She sends her son to Ithaca armed for whatever reason with a spear poisoned with a stingray poison. Telegonous shipwrecks in Ithaca and for some reason again proceeds performing Piracy where he and Odysseus clash unknown to each other who is who till Odysseus gets stabbed by the stingray poisonous spear and dies and the last moment he recognizes his son and Telegonous him.

Now that is not the worst part of Telegony per se for Homer fans. Apparently during the trip of Odysseus in Thesprotia he gets married to queen Callidice and bears a son with her named Polypoetes. So the first contradiction here is that Odysseus gets married while Penelope is still alive and waiting in Ithaca. Which seems odd given how Odysseus was refusing the advances of two goddesses and one young princess in the Odyssey to go to his wife. Here he appears to marry another woman while Penelope is alive and waiting. Not only that but he remains in Thesprotia till Callidice dies and establishes his son to the kingdom before turning back. Also he seems not to return to Ithaca hastily not necessarily to see his wife again but to defend his property against the piracy of Telegonous. Which again seems to be a massive contradiction to his character as portrayed in the homeric poems Then there is the contradiction of his death. According to the Odyssey Tiresias predicts that he will find peaceful death in ripe old age out of the sea. This story definitely doesn't sound peaceful way to go. So we have contradictions to the Odyssey material already regarding Odysseus alone.

Also seems to be a certain level of irritation with the ending of Telegony that wants Telegonous after the burial of Odysseus taking Penelope and Telemachous with him to Aeaea where Circe makes them both immortal and then they proceed in a cross-marriage; Circe marries Telemachous and Telegonous marries Penelope. Now other than the fact that the modern audiences do not really stand such unions people critisize that Penelope would never marry her husband's murderer. Well I am only thinking how much would Penelope blame him or not (given that neither party was aware) but I believe we also see there is the pattern where Telegonous is in a way her stepson given how he is the illegitimate son of her husband. Such unions were not particularly approved for mortals even in ancient Greece (although here Telemachous and Penelope are technically gods so here we enter in a different sphere)

Either way I must say that indeed Telegony seems like a messy continuation of Odyssey or rather an attempt of it but one thing that must be said is that it wouldn't be the first time that a post-homeric writer basically changes the hell out of the homeric characters. I very rarely find a post-homeric version that does proper justice to the homeric characters. Eurypedes even makes Odysseus much more dislikable and even Menelaus who was the number one Odysseus supporter after Diomedes is portrayed badmouthing him (see my other humorous post about it). Odysseus is no exception given that from roman writers like Virgil till Conon who makes him want to backstab no other but Diomedes to get full credit for stealing the Palladium of Athena and failing no less, there is no doubt that Odysseus was not as heroic or as complicated to all post-homeric writers.

I believe what bothers most people is that Telegony has passed in history as part of the Epic Cycle because it takes things from where Homer left them so historically it was used as continuation/sequel despite the fact that it contradicts fundamental parts of the original homeric poems. Most likely Telegony is an epic poem that is based on local oral traditions that were created in order to place Odysseus as the mythological progenitor of thisspecific area of Thesprotia and show the greek roots of th area. Apart from that I do agree with those who do not consider it "canon" to Epic Cycle the same much as I do not count Eurypedes's tragedies as part of the Epic Cycle. It is definitely a piece of ancient literature that follows the pattern of Epic Cycle and is worth analyzng for its contents and what information it gives us for ancient Greece and the ancient past but yes I doubt one can call it an actual "sequel" of the Odyssey. Too many contradictions.

So yeah "hate" would be a strong word here but I definitely agree to those who do not consider it actual continuation of the Odyssey. Is it part of ancient literature? Absolutely. Does it have information to give us? No doubt but yes I do not consider it Epic Cycle the same as I do not consider roman scholiasts as necessarily accurate given the negative representations of homeric heroes but I study their interpretation anyways.

I hope this answers the question.

[dootznbootz]

Guys... Warm body, Cold hands Penny and Cold body, Warm hands Ody

Kind of! :D

Though mine is actually Pen-Cold af all the way and Odysseus-Hot af all way :3

Penelope is of naiad descent, 75% in mine. And like fish, she's cold to the touch. Her internal temperature is a bit different than most mortals. AND she actually is pretty fine in most temperatures (moving to Ithaca wasn't too crazy as she was fine with the cold :)) She only really has to worry about DRYING UP and has to soak her scales every once in a while. She's not FREEZING but she is naturally cooler than most. (all Water Nymphs are)

Odysseus, however, is built like a lil furnace. which is convenient on a colder island but he gets sweaty/hot easily.

It's very convenient that he has a cold Penelope to cool him down🥹 They usually snuggle while they sleep because they can balance each other out. (Also Penelope drools and Odysseus snores, both kind of sleeptalk, don't move as much when cuddling but sometimes one will randomly start "running" in their sleep. lol) In a way, my OdyPen are physically different in many ways but personality-wise, practically the exact same.

While separated, Penelope will wrap herself in a lot of blankets, not necessarily because she's cold but because it FEELS right :')

Odysseus does the same with her weavings, out of comfort as she has a specific weaving style that has a certain texture that is just "HER" (he sometimes puts a blanket over a cushion to pretend it's her lap) but it's a bit sad for him because he ends up waking up to the blankets being thrown off and about because he needs his lil ice block ;~; He is often jealous of threads of her weavings, as he too wishes to be wrapped around her fingers 🥺

It's another way the Goddesses are "wrong". :') Circe is a literal "Mini-sun" so she's very very hot. She also doesn't like sweat. That's an icky mortal thing. :/ She wanted to study Odysseus, she got results and he got tricked and then scared. (it's complicated. :') Odysseus is not okay )

And Calypso while being an Oceanid, she's still immortal. Ichor (to me) is like liquid gold in a way, and to keep it flowing, your body warms up a lot. So she's very hot as well. She, however, didn't mind Odysseus' sweat...

Penelope's cold is what is RIGHT. It's comforting and all he's ever wanted. And for Penelope, it's so so good to have his WARMTH back in her life

[aaronofithaca05]

The first night

Part 2: Wanax

“Father what?!!!!”. I was interrupted by a stoic voice coming from across the megaron as clear and cold as glass.

“Telemachus..I “. I tried to muster something to quell his fiery question but.

“She did what?”;  he asked once more.

“Telemachus, my dear joy, my little prince, what did you hear?”. I tried to compose myself  while my thoughts were  stuck one upon the other

“Everything..since the beginning.”, he said with confusion in his eyes

He exchanged eyes with mine. A cold sweat started to embrace me, as dark as last night but not a chill breeze but of winter´s freeze. I tried to compose myself, to talk, to say something. but then  noticed..

“Why I can´t talk''; I thought, “Why I can´t move my limbs?” i tried to said, but nothing, my lisps where shut and my eyes still.

“Are they here?”, “is this nothing more than a dream?” , “Am I still in the concave cave?” , my thoughts started to coalesce in a waterfall of doubts, shouting louder than poseidon´s waves.

Then I heard it: *oink* and a woman´s laughter.

I froze for a moment: “she can´t be here, she can´t be in Ithaca, she must be in Aiaia!”

*oink* *oink*

The pigs were getting closer.

I tried to recognize the room, tried to scrutinize everyone's reactions to the Daughter of Helios; no one seemed to heard what i heard; I tried once more when an oink felt sharper than a spear instead i saw flowers; white flowers gently growing in the morning light of the room, in the light of my throne

“Molly” I thought, “she's here to make everyone her next meal”, I tried to think, “she's here in Ithaca because of me”, “ I can't let her near”, “I can't lose here”, “I can't lose them too”.

Before the radiant Circe could enter the palace I shouted from deep inside like an earthquake: “Telemachus, dear son run for your sweet life!!!!!!”. I saw how my beautiful son shaked in fear while I was heading towards you, my Joy.

“Penelope, my queen, my life, my star, run upstairs and cover your gracious face, an immortal has come and shines worse than the summer´s sun”, I tried to muster this before seeing how your eyes started to fill with the radiance of stars.

You believed me though, as your entourage and you, climbed the pearly stairs to our bed.

I heard her steeps, as harmonious as the lyre´s strings and I thought: “think Odysseus, think, what can be her plan?, to suffocate you while she sheds Penelope´s blood, is she here for fresh lovers, is she here for ..is she here for …?”, that question: “ is she here for…? .Those words ravaged my mind and my eyes fixated again on the gentle flowers.

“THE FLOWERS” I shouted. “ Look how they move, how they snare, how they creep from below. the pain, the gold, the threads, the stick, the pigs”,I rumbled.

“ White”. It all become white.

“It was her,” I knew. Before being able to react, she stepped into the throne room.

As gracious as she was, as wild as her home, as intimidating as ever, she was there in my home.

“Your graceful goddess, mistress of Aiaia” I said in my kindest of voices.” Odysseus Laertides, father of Telemachus”, spoke as mellow as honey.

“Welcome to my Ithaca, to my palace, to my home” I welcomed her, waiting for a response but She as passive as a spider waiting for something to throw her thread, didn't say a word.

But I added in a joyful tone “ By your oath you must not harm me nor my people” . I remember the oath I made her vow, but it only applied in Aiaia, I feared as a knot was forming in my throat.

“hurt them or the taste of my bronze sword would be…” I couldn't finish my speech as you cut me.

“ODYSSEUS, STOP!!!” You shouted.

It was quicker than the evading foam of the sea, but as that I saw her transform

“HE..R HER FACE IS CHANGING, STAY BACK” I said as I saw her changing formswas  . “Stay back ! I'm warning you!.” I shouted imagining the monster that she would become:

“ A siren” to low for her grace, “scylla”, no, she pitied her.. I made recount of all my encounters but then It hit me as lighting of the mighty above.

“A chimera”. I  was getting ready to stick out my sword as the bow was hanging in the wall.

But as the thought was being  born, her  height diminished, her light arms became dark,

“ It's a girl?” I thought as her factions rounded and became mundane.

A sweet voice as morning dew let through her frail throat: “Our lord, your grace, i'm only here to bring you my harvest, my tribute to you” she said before tears formed in her little eyes. “Why do I get to taste your divine threat?” she let out amidst a nascent spring.

“You're a girl,” I said, perplexed.

Where is SHE? I asked, then it dawned “OHH you're one of her nymphs, aren't you?” I asked her with rage

“Tell Circe in my house her presence is not allowed….”. I was demanding to know before I felt a pain in the cheek, how I felt it touched my teeth”, how it started to rush like five hundred bites.

The sound traveled the throne room as the godly arrows of Eros, as silence followed suit.

A moment later I saw a hand, a delicate hand, marked by years of work, of pricked fingers, your hand.

“Mighty Wanax,  who's Circe??” asked the perplexed girl. 

she then added “  I'm (insert girl name here), daughter of (insert random name)”,  she recovered her normal voice as she saw there was danger no more. 

“ Shepherd as the only kin of his, I came to bring you the fattest pigs of us  as sacrifice to the gods of the isle, from my father and I”.

As she was speaking I saw her eyes turning from fear to pity, as you Joy were whispering something into her ear.

Then she looked at me and with a reverence said  goodbye.

“I told her that our rightful lord, our divine King, has become afraid of pigs as part of his crew was killed by Circe's boars”, you said in a calm voice after the storm of before.

My dear, thank you.... I lost myself… I tried to say before you cutted me again.

“Lost myself?”, you spitted from your mouth.

“I saw your deep eyes filled with blood, your tense wrists, your  forced grin, I saw anger in your words” you said before composing yourself again.

And delivered from the depths of your kind heart: “ My Joy I'm afraid of you”

-A...afraid, you are afraid of me? Those winged words cut deeper than immortal bronce, than mighty lighting than the grief I have been carrying since the beaches of Troy.

Did I become a threat, a….. monster to you? I asked.

Words couldn't exist as I mumbled my way through the syllables, letters then formed my deepest fear, losing you.

“Not dear, i'm afraid of what you can do to our people, you're still King after all, i pity you from my depths below bottom, but you aren't my Odysseus, not anymore” another cold rush befell on me, I was being skinned alive, no, I would have prefer that instead of making you say those words,

“I i..i. am...Odysseus”. I tried to say as I was getting myself out of the vortex of despair I was falling prey to.

“Why does she hate me, 20 years away, the horse, the boy, Polyphemus, the crew…..all has been in vain?” my head wanted to explode. I wanted to be Priam there, I was cursed to feel his demise too.

“I…i…i a..am sorry” I said supplicant while throwing myself to your knees, to your knees my love.

I thought I was falling to the house of the one of many guests, to the one whose house is set on the west but no; I felt a hand and kiss after all what had been said.

“You're Odysseus, son of Laertes, father of my joy, dear Telemachus” you said before adding” you're Odysseus King of Ithaca, you're but still my love.”. Those words felt like  woven wool blankets, as warm as a child could hope for.

“I..ahm” I said as I was standing up, as I was composing myself again, as seeing there was no threat again.…

Thank you, my queen” I said in my normal voice.

Everything was as normal as before, the people were there again, no one had runned away as I demanded when thinking Aiaia´s mistress was in the palace. No, they had been there petrified as there awaited king shouted to a little girl no more than 14 springs old. They witnessed how their beloved wanax was put in place by the hand of her faithful wife. Even he had been there all the time.

“Telemachus” I tried to reach him with his name..

Thanks so much to all of you! I´m tagging to my best friends and special moots:

@jarondont,@iroissleepdeprived, @nikoisme, @perroulisses,@poshgirlsstuff, @katerinaaqu @incorrecthomer, @dootznbootz, @nyx-of-darkness-1620, @sunshines-child, @randomkrab, @ironspdr6700, @fangirlofallthefanthings, @twomanyfandomshelp, @thehighpaladin, @the-decapod, @myblacknightworld, @simugeuge, @itszorrito67, @incorrectatlas @tunguszka20, @dootznbootz , @ironspdr6700

[nysus-temple]

Well you could say Circe and Calypso were the examples that even women when given immortality and power can abuse it just like the men gods. Calypso especially held Odysseus hostage against his will and he repeatedly wanted to leave.

I don't like why some say their stories are feminists (no guys Miller's Circe does not count it's fiction retelling). Girlboss is not feminism, on the contrary having them punish them simply because they are men does not make any less awful than some sexist men.

Feminism is equality not fighting eachother, so yeah Odysseus was assaulted and we should mention more about the trauma he went through. He was literally overpowered by Goddesses who could in a move punish him worse.

* punches the wall * SMART ANON. RIGHT HERE.

Calypso and Circe are not girlbosses. They do wrong, just like men could.

Do you know when people are always saying "Helen shouldn't have accepted Paris. She's so dumb" my brother in Christ, she was kidnapped. Well, Odysseus is the same with those two, specially Calipso since Circe did SO much i don't even know where to begin.

In any case, just like Paris held Helen against her will, Calypso held Odysseus against his. For way too many years. I still can't believe that we HAVE to say this when people talk about Odysseus. His ass did not want to be there.

[abookishdreamer]

Character Intro: Theodon (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Theo by the others

The Black Prince by the people of Olympius

Age- 15 (immortal)

Location- The Underworld

Personality- He's an intelligent young man with a nihilistic sense of humor. Far mature than his years he's comfortably introverted (but doesn't actively avoid people), mysterious, brutally honest, & non judgemental.

He has the standard abilities of a god except shapeshifting. As the god of reality, uncertainty, & fate his other powers/abilities include limited umbrakinesis, inducing the feeling of confusion or uncertainty in others, chronokinesis (not on par with his mother, but still quite powerful), reality manipulation, psychometry, and is able to communicate with his mother's sacred animal- the snake.

Theo lives in the Underworld with his mother Ananke (goddess of inevitability, compulsion, & neccessity).

His bedroom has a dark academia aesthetic with the color scheme being forest green, gold, cobalt, silver, and black. Many of his own original artwork & sketches cover the walls as well as renaissance paintings and posters of his favorite movies & musical acts. He also owns an antique record player (which he bought from Hades). There's also a bookshelf (built from obsidian) filled with many books, including pristine leather bound first editions.

Theo owns a pet- a dragon with pale silver-green scales named Amaris (who's usually his mode of transportation). Sometimes he likes to help out in his mother's herpetarium.

There's never a shortage of black liquid eyeliner, statement rings, & dark nail polish for him!

A notable feature of Theo is his impressive height. At the age of fifteen, he slightly towers over his mother at 6''3!

A go-to drink for him is roast coffee with just a bit of sugar. He also enjoys earl grey tea, beer, pomegranate cola, lavender tea, dark cherry cola, and taro bubble tea.

Theo is currently on break from school. The godly schoolmates he talks to the most include Koalemos (god of foolishness), Circe (goddess of sorcery), Dysnomia (goddess of anarchy & lawlessness), Cedalion (demi-god of smithing ore), and Telesphorus (Rusty) (god of rehabilitation). Other godly students include Eileithyia (Ella) (goddess of childbirth), Morá (goddess of babies & children), Eirene (goddess of peace), Philautia (goddess of self love), Eunomia (goddess of law & legislation), Eleos (Ellie) (goddess of mercy, pity, & compassion), and Eiresione (Ren) (goddess of offerings).

Outside of school he's close and hangs out with Ascalaphus, son of Acheron (Titan god of pain).

At school it's well known of his high grades in AP Philosophy, AP Calculus, and Underworld Studies. He's also part of the drama club & photography club.

Theo's even taking a few classes at the University like quantum physics, astronomy, & engineering!

He can play the lyre, trombone, and piano.

His favorite treat to get from The Bread Box is a small mushroom soup.

Theo is currently being mentored by Lachesis (one of The Moirai who's known as "the allotter.") He already knew that this would be the case of course! He's enthralled so far in his mentorship- even getting a brief look at the process of making lifethread! There was a time when Theo had a crush on her, having a few wet dreams after coming across a black and white nude portrait of Lachesis- her signature bouffant and long loose curls & sharp winged eyeliner.

He smokes cigarettes and a bit of pot. Ascalaphus once gifted him a Stygian Iron bong!

He's also fluent in Old Greek, Latin, French, & Minoan.

Theo is looking forward to his induction ceremony, especially since he knows that Achlys (goddess of the death mist, poison, misery, & sadness) will do his tattoos!

Theo is undecided about the feelings he has towards another schoolmate Heimarmene (Marnie) (goddess of shared fate). Aside from a brief interaction on the steps of the University during a particularly rainy day, they don't really socialize. At school, he'll often find himself staring at her or vice versa. He's had more than a few visions of them both making out.

His favorite dessert from Hollyhock's Bakery is the espresso chocolate cheesecake.

Some of his favorite musical acts to listen to include Pale Blu, Blood in the Water, Death Theater, and Discordic Harmony.

In the pantheon Theo greatly admires Hades (god of the dead), Erebus (god of darkness), Moros (god of doom), Momus (god of mockery, satire, & ridicule); loves watching The Agnostic Network, Hecate (goddess of magic & witchcraft), Nemesis (goddess of retribution); who he also used to have a crush on, Favian (god of philosophy); has a signed harcover & paperback copy of every book he's published, and Keres (goddess of violent death).

He has even dog sat Cerberus a handful of times, with Hades paying him 100 drachmas!

Theo has a complicated relationship with his mother. On one hand he admires her intelligence & respects the fact that she's taking responsibility when it comes to handling her mental illness and how she treats him like a mature young adult, but on the the other hand, he sometimes wishes that Ananke was the kind of mom that asked how his day was or made a home cooked meal or volunteered spending time together. For the longest time as a kid, Theo thought that Acantha, a lampade who works for Ananke, was his actual mom instead of being a glorified nanny! The two of them still have a pretty close relationship! There used to be times when Theo was the mediator between Acantha & his mom every time she'd have a violent outburst. In a weird way, he does know that his mother loves him.

His all time favorite meal (which Acantha makes) is a filet mignon (well done) served with sauteed mushrooms, blackened asparagus, & garlic mashed potatoes.

His all time favorite movie is Blooddancer! He remembers going along with Ascalaphus to the premier at the Agesilaos Theater in the Underworld!

In his free time Theo enjoys calligraphy, ink painting, skateboarding, reading, writing poetry, listening to music, drawing, pottery, playing video games, chess, lava surfing, poker, and basketball.

"A brutal reality is always better than a sweet deception."