#epic the musical the thunder saga

[adrianacopycat170]

anni i did somthing!!!

@anniflamma

[elianzis]

I have to see her

[caleohateclub]

the epic fandom:

[blessedbyahuntress]

Blessed by a Trickster

Chapter Twenty-Four: Well, Fuck

Prev/Next

A/N: I was reminded about how much I love this song while writing this! Totally wasn't dancing around my room to this song before school. Nope.

Warnings: Blood, sword-fight

Word Count: 837

Listen to: Mutiny (I recommend just listening to the first part, but you do you)

When you awoke, you were still on deck, bathed in a pool of your own blood- golden ichor instead of red. 

Your head was pounding, yet you found it to be easy to sit up. The world spun for a moment, then settled back to normal. You let out a deep breath, glancing around, only to see practically the whole crew watching you. You flinched back at their stares.

“How long was I out?” You muttered.

Polites was the first to make a move, crouching down beside you to place a hand on your forehead. “You weren’t out at all, Y/N,” he said kindly. “At least- it was too short for you to be fully unconscious.”

“What?” All of the men took a step back in what seemed like unison. One person pointed a finger at your figure. 

You looked down, yelping in surprise when you saw your own wounds stitching themselves together, new skin going to overlap the wounded and torn. 

You lifted your gaze back up, locking eyes with Eurylochus. The sheer fury in them made your heart beat faster. “Eurylochus-”

“Tell me you did not know that would happen.” The second in command turned on his heel, glare finding Odysseus, who was standing a bit farther from the rest of the group. “Say you didn’t know how that would end.” 

He took a step forward, and Odysseus turned his head away. “I didn’t mean-”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me, captain,” Eurylochus interrupted. “That you did not just try to sacrifice Y/N!” The second in command began pacing back and forth, hands massaging his temples as he spoke. “Use your wits to try and say I’m crazy and mad, that this is all some trick the gods have sent!” He paused, eyes desperate as he searched Odysseus’s, gaze pleading for the captain to interrupt and say just that. When he apparently didn’t find what he was looking for, he resumed. “Tell me you did not miss home so painfully bad, that you tried to give up the life of your best friend!”

Eurylochus started counting on his fingers, words tumbling out even faster as he gave a quick look at you from over his shoulder. “When we fought the cyclops, you were quick to hatch a plan! And when we fought we Circe, it was you who left behind no man! But when we fought this monster, we didn’t take a stand.” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “We just ran!” 

He finally stopped ranting, planting himself in front of Odysseus. “Say something!”

“I can’t!” Odysseus yelled back, expression mixed with sadness, regret, and perhaps a bit of confusion.

Eurylochus looked down, taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes as he drew his sword. “Then you have forced my hand.”

“Eurylochus!” You cried, lunging forward as if you could stop what was about to happen. “Stop! Lower your weapon!”

“No can do,” the second in command said coldly without a glance at you. He kept his attention trained on Odysseus. “You miss your wife so bad, you’d trade the lives of your own crew.”

The captain rested a hand on the hilt of his weapon. “Don’t make me fight you, brother. You know you’d have done the same.”

Eurylochus looked both disgusted and outraged at the idea as he leaped toward Odysseus. “If you want all the power, you must carry all the blame!”

“Eurylochus,” you begged as he clashed his sword against Odysseus’s. “Please… just stop. We can find a way that doesn’t end like this.”

The man froze, torn between obeying you and his rage on Odysseus. The captain took the opportunity to kick Eurylochus to the ground, using his sword to knock the second in command’s weapon out of his hands. It went skittering across the floorboards, stopping right in front of you. Your expression darkened as you used the sword to prop yourself up, Polites arm wrapped around your waist to help you rise to your feet. 

As soon as you could stand properly, you abandoned Polites, taking small, silent steps as you moved behind Odysseus. 

“I am not letting you get in my way!” You heard Odysseus screech, bringing down his blade. 

You moved swiftly, embedding the weapon deep into his thigh. You watched as Odysseus groaned, falling to his knees. You moved around to the front so that he could see you, and the blade that was now covered in his blood. “My sister,” Odysseus started. “Why?”

Your lips pursed, but you didn’t look away. “How am I supposed to trust you now?” You demanded. “Now, your time has come, your luck’s run out.” You felt the rest of the crew gathering behind your back, showing that you had their support. “Now, the time has come to shut you down.”

You leaned down, your voice dropping a bit. “You relied on wit, and I almost died on it.”

You brought your boot down on his face, stomping him into unconsciousness.

Taglist: @barrythestrawberry041 @thereigningking @m-carriaga2021 @jackintheboxs-world @fallenh34art @itzkingbo @sabrina-senpai @smartiepants217 @doodle-with-rhy @trashcannotbealive@uselessmoonlight@permanently-nothere@keikeiluvyou @followingthefanfiction @scarletdfox

[shadebloopnik]

I WILL BE SPAMMING SCREENSHOTS TOMORROW I JUST NEED TO SIT DOWN FOR A SECOND HOLY SHIT

BUT

THE WAY IM GONNA MURDER THIS MAN THEN REVIVE HIM TO SHAKE HIS SHOULDERS ONG LMAOOOO

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

Speaking of how Odysseus sees Eurylochus (could be seen as a part two to this post), I often think about this video Jorge made about Eurylochus where he talks about how Eury almost seems lost and like he can’t find his way due to how inconsistent his instrumental is.

I think it also implies something super interesting from Odysseus’ perspective too.

Eurylochus, as far as I can tell, only really has his Luck Runs Out motif that we almost exclusively hear paired with the rest of the crew. It’s something that he leads on, yes, but there is a moment where the crew uses it on their own (in Mutiny, when Perimedes stabs Odysseus) and therefore it feels like something much more dedicated to the crew as a whole. This could be something showing how much Eurylochus puts into the crew and how much of his life is dedicated to them, or it could also be something that shows how much more similar he is to the crew than to Odysseus (lumping himself in with them and further leading to the separation between Ody and the crew that I talk about in this post— can you tell I yap a lot about Eurylochus?).

But I think it’s interesting to look at it in a more meta way. EPIC is primarily told from Odysseus’ point of view, only changing after Eurylochus dies. So, every moment we have with him is strictly from Odysseus’ perspective and, therefore, the lack of distinction in Eurylochus’ music could easily be attributed to that.

Most of Eurylochus’ arc is implied— specifically when it comes to how he changes from Circe’s island to Mutiny and that’s led to a lot of interpretations from people that aren’t necessarily wrong due to the fact that nothing about him is very clear. And I don’t just mean people who view him as a selfish hypocrite, I also mean opinions that I hold too.

I, for example, strongly believe that there’s a real possibility Eurylochus wasn’t the only one who opened the windbag. He was definitely there and probably apart of it, but there are real implications in the show that he might not have done it alone and simply took responsibility out of guilt. It doesn’t absolve him of all wrongdoing, but it is something to consider when it comes to the discussions about his self-preserving nature versus how he prioritizes the wellbeing of the crew. That being said, these implications aren’t what’s directly in the text, through lyrics or music, so I could be totally wrong.

And that’s exactly my point; there isn’t a whole lot to Eurylochus to decipher, musically. Jorge likes to use the music to give the audience background information on characters (like how he uses Athena’s ensemble in Warrior of the Mind to tell us that Athena is amused by Odysseus fangirling over her or how we can sometimes hear Circe’s motif in regards to Scylla, both things he’s revealed on TikTok). This is the type of information that Odysseus might not necessarily know but that we get told through the music.

Eurylochus doesn’t seem to have anything like that.

Unlike pretty much every other character that has some level of distinction to them and how they interact with our primary perspective, Odysseus doesn’t have anything to connect with Eurylochus other than the rest of the crew. There’s nothing that is specifically tied to him and this carries on throughout the entire show, where he takes on other melodies and instruments depending on the context. While perhaps not intentional, Eurylochus being musically lost not only leaves a lot of his actions and motivations up to interpretation for the audience, but it also highlights just how out of sync he is with Odysseus.

Their primary conflict revolves around their inability to understand one another and it’s very clear that they both have views on the other that is incorrect. Odysseus believes Eurylochus to be too ruthless and yet too cautious to actually effectively use the philosophy and Eurylochus sees Odysseus as too arrogant, playing foolish games with the gods that will only get the crew killed. They’re both right, to a degree, but their inability to understand or even empathize with the other’s position is really what destroys them— something we see even in the very beginning. There is no musical tie to them and nothing musically surrounding Eurylochus to signal any other meanings to the audience— Eurylochus is just his Luck Runs Out melody, that again is intrinsically tied to the rest of the crew which makes it less distinctive to him as a character than, say, Open Arms for Polites.

And then comes Mutiny— where Eurylochus is the most musically distinct and yet, none of it is truly his. In the beginning, he hijacks Odysseus’ electric guitar (possibly a hint that he understands Odysseus more than Odysseus has, thus far, understood him) and, in the second half, the melody he sings is that of Survive— which was potentially the first time he truly doubted his captain in ten years— to a beat of The Horse and The Infant (that’s what my friend and I hear, anyways)— which is mostly just a tool used for foreshadowing Thunder Bringer. Then, the script flips and Odysseus is in Eurylochus’ position for the Luck Runs Out melody, possibly signaling that he’s finally beginning to understand Eurylochus for the first time since the start of the story. And, instead of going back to the lyrics of Luck Runs Out, Eurylochus turns to the specific use of the word ‘suffering’.

Because Eurylochus is so vague in his instrumentals, prioritizing the crew over his own well-being and identity, the times where he does falter into other melodies, particularly ones involving Odysseus, are very loaded with implications that you can interpret— like how Odysseus uses the concept of suffering as a motivator, associating it with Penelope and her ability to make everything worth it. Eurylochus, on the other hand, associates it with his loss of the will to survive, which is why I think it follows that song’s melody too.

But even then, Eurylochus is still followed by the voices of the crew with a melody that has never been his alone because Eurylochus, as a character, is defined by what he does for other people and, since Odysseus simply cannot understand being in that position, Eury’s music reflects that.

I just find it interesting that the character with the second most screen time has little to show for it musically, and I think that’s a good thing for showing Odysseus’ inability to see things outside of his perspective (or outside of a magical perspective; as in, he can’t relate to regular men), especially given that this is a flaw Eurylochus has as well. It could’ve been really easy to give Eurylochus a bass— which is known for being paired with guitars— or maybe a specific drum and call it a day, symbolically, but Jorge chose to keep him as only the voice of the crew with one mention of a bass and snare in Luck Runs Out.

Something about that intrigues me idk

[zigadoodle]

Pov: You said you opened the wind bag

[lovelylulib]

The one who has the final say.

You?

Or your crew?

[evthesoup]

odysseus and poseidon!

[syphcreations]

This one is kind of complex only because it’s techneclly a scene from legendary but I thought of it listening to I can only wonder like he was looking back on all the times he was thinking of meeting Odysseus so take it as which ever song you’d like because they’re both amazing and I’m obsessed

[poppitron360]

i love epic too! and i think ur super smart so can you share any cool things that you noticed/learned about it?

So I think my favourite song in Epic in terms of the composition is probably Scylla.

Btw this analysis barely scratches the surface of the composition/production of this song alone. I could talk for hours about this.

Also if I use any words you don’t understand, please please please ask me to elaborate and explain further (please). I tried my best to make it as easy to follow as possible but I grew up around this stuff so I tend to under-explain things and assume everyone knows what I’m talking about.

Most of the time when you’re recording vocals, you record the singer singing the melody two or three times (this is called double-tracking, and it makes the voice sound richer and better) and then you record the harmonies in the same fashion.

But with Scylla, they just recorded the singer singing the melody a bunch of times, and then pitch-shifted some of it to the harmonic note. When using any kind of DAW (Digital Audio Workspace (Sidenote but from what I can tell from the vids, Jay uses GarageBand, which I believe is free for most devices)), manipulating a note- changing the tempo, or in this case, changing the pitch- of a naturally-recorded instrument like a singing voice will make it sound really artificial.

(I love this because it’s clear that Jorge doesn’t have the best equipment and he’s using it to his advantage. Something recorded on a crappy four-track tape recorder in your bedroom can sound so much cooler than something recorded at Real World Studios or Abbey Road with the world’s best recording equipment- but only if you know what you’re doing.)

Also, in the context of Epic, the more synthetic, artificial, and electronic sounds are reserved for the mythical characters- the gods and monsters.

Taking a quick re-listen to Scylla’s song, I’ve noticed she’s harmonising on the 3rd and 5th of the note (now, I don’t have perfect pitch (which is when you can tell what note it is just by ear) so I could be wrong).

This is a very simplified explanation, but basically any key has a scale, and most chords are comprised of the root (the first 1st note in the scale) the 3rd note, and the 5th note. You can add or take away extra notes to make it ✨sparklier✨.

So she’s harmonising on the 3rd and the 5th, and her harmonies are mostly moving in parallel motion (in the same way) with the melody. This gives a clean, sweet, consonant feel. (Consonant= not dissonant. Dissonant= “smushy”)

Most of the melody is conjunct (moving in steps- no big leaps) and also descending, like you’re falling down in steps with her. Then, at the end of each line rising back up again.

Except for “Deep down” which is disjunct (big leap), moving downwards. You are plunging into the depths.

This has a chilling simplicity to it. And the fact that it’s repeated over and over and over again makes it almost sickening. I love it.

What I love about this is the duality of simple, beautiful elements, and dark, haunting elements.

So! You have the combination of:

The main vocal melody being sung by a natural voice- imo showing how Scylla was once a beautiful nymph

The harmonies being sung by a pitch-shifted voice, giving it a strange, creepy, artificial, “mythical” sound to it- as established by the other uses of electronic instruments in Epic to show myth

Consonant harmonising on the notes of the chord, which is something we are trained to hear in music and feels very “right” and “natural”

The parallel motion of the harmonies, which give a simple feeling- you’re not being sent out in loads of directions. You’re falling down with her.

The descending nature of the melody taking you “deep down”, then rising back up.

The continuous repetition of this simple melody line

The fact that it’s sung in a minor (sad) key

Ultimately these two factors create a stark contrast- a juxtaposition- which creates a super cool and bone-chilling effect. The only thing I can relate it to is something akin to a creepy children’s nursery rhyme from a horror movie. It’s unlike any other song in Epic just because of how twisted it feels. This beautiful, creepy song being played as you hear Ody’s men screaming as she slaughters them

(While we’re on the topic of the screams, in music production there is this thing called “panning” which (if you’re listening in stereo and not mono) controls how much to the left or right the sound is coming from. This is why I love to listen to Epic, specifically this song, on headphones, because you can hear the men being gruesomely killed all around you.)

Also “Drown in your sorrow and fears/choke on your blood and your tears/bleed ‘til you’ve run out of years” is just a mood and a half (there’s a whole other post I could write for the literary analytics of the lyrics- how she uses imperative verbs. It’s a command. It’s an instruction.)

And so when Odysseus joins in with Scylla singing “We are the same you and I…” it really hits home just how much of a monster he’s become- how unfeeling he was when he sacrificed his men. This is so subtle but in my opinion it’s what really turns him. Jorge is using all of these contrasting techniques to make Scylla seem horrific and creepy as fuck, and Ody is empathising with her. He is relating to her. I just… *shivers* wow.

[elianzis]

SPOILERS!!!!

It hits me too much with pain now🥲

[naarlar]

Okay so I’ve seen a lot of people being like “oh Eurylochus is not a hypocrite bc he didn’t intentionally sacrifice the crew with Circe like Odysseus did with Scylla”

And while yes it is not the same, uh…….. here’s the problem from my perspective and why I still totally think he’s a hypocrite.

He was the one who had those men under his command. Odysseus gave him a mission and for that mission, Eurylochus was in charge of those guys. Then he LOSES (yes it is his fault, he was responsible for those men) the men to Circe and then runs back to Odysseus and immediately is trying to leave. He in a way is actively choosing to ABANDON those men without even TRYING to attempt a plan to save them. Like he doesn’t even think about it.

Yes Odysseus and the Scylla situation are messed up and it is not the same as Eurylochus and the Circe situation, but sorry guys this man is absolutely still a hypocrite. For his own self preservation he was about to abandon a bunch of men HE LOST to a supposed evil. The only difference is that Ody did it deliberately while Eurylochus’ incompetence caused it.

And here’s the thing, we can argue that Odysseus bc of the Scylla situation is more of a monster than Eury. I’m not even saying the mutiny is not justified. IT ABSOLUTELY WAS. The crew absolutely should have mutinied and Eury was right to challenge Ody.

However, these characters are complex and like yeah, Ody is a monster and a conniving schemer, but he is ultimately just a man trying to get home. And Eury is a fool and a hypocrite that would abandon his men for his mistakes but he is also just a tired man who is starving and suffering.

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

how long do you think it was between the Underworld Saga and the Thunder Saga?

they say it's been 'about 12 years' which is the same time given in the Circe Saga so it can't have been that long (assuming Ody wasn't lying earlier and they're even half decent at keeping track of time).

in Different Beasts, the whole crew acts like Ody's ruthlessness is expected, even though we haven't seen it since Troy. they don't hesitate to obey him at any point, not when he says to cut off the sirens tails, not when he says to let them drown. Eurolychus doesn't hesitate to light the six torches, the men don't hesitate to follow him into Scylla's lair. they sing about being different beasts now, about how he's a different beast now. how long do you think that strategy had been working for them? how many monsters do you think they dealt with ruthlessly? how long had it been since they lost a friend?

I just. there's so much trust between Ody and his crew for the first half of the Thunder Saga and it all goes out the window the moment they realise their acceptable collateral damage to him

[second-wolf]

Eurylocus: “But we’ll die”

Sir you chose to ignore Odysseus’ warnings about the cow, and you literally just finished singing about how you have no hope anymore.

[adrianacopycat170]

SIR?!

[ODYSSEUS] Please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you'll do

[EURYLOCHUS] Ody, we're never gonna get to make it home You know it's true THE FUCKING NICKNAME!!!!