#greek allusion

[captainfairygodmother]

No no no, you don't understand. "We've got forever to figure out what the rest means" is Charles making sure that they don't end up like Orpheus and Eurydice, even if it's subconsciously because he never finished the ending of the myth. Because if Charles would have stopped to think through what Edwin fully meant by what he said, or stopped to think through how he feels and give him a longer response based on that, even for just a second of consider, the demon monster thing would've gotten to Edwin. The confession was to Charles what Orpheus turning to find Eurydice was. "Oh if Charles actually reciprocated Edwin's feelings he would have told him then" is the exact same vibes as "If Orpheus really loved Eurydice he wouldn't have turned around", in the sense that no, because Charles and Orpheus loved Edwin and Eurydice so much, even if for the former it was something that would never develop into more, they did what they had to. The only difference is that Edwin and Charles have "forever to work out the rest", they survived to be able to have at least that, while Orpheus and Eurydice don't, and are deemed a tragedy.

[illustratus]

The Sword of Damocles by Richard Westall

[arley-ology]

Lester/Apollo as a character lends himself so easily to Icarus metaphors and it's hilarious to me. Like this man is so haunted by his past mistakes that it starts popping up in the story unintentionally

[basilpaste]

I just had a thought.. if in canon ISAT Siffrin is supposed to be like Sisyphus, what if in OSIS Isabeau is like Atlas (carrying the weight of the heavens…) 👀

hey so yknow how loop calls isabeau 'sunlight' in the one drabble i posted? yeah they almost called him atlas instead.

this is correct. this is good. you get me, you understand.

[bulletgoth]

happy ides of march to julius little and his death scene

[aquato-family-circus]

bc of that EPIC musical that's slowly rolling out & getting popular I'm thinking abt my old swap au again where bob "died" and helmut languished in depression for 20 years

and bc i already had my own idea for helmuts mental world involving him steering a ship in stormy waters im like

helmut mental world with some the odyssey allusions? anybody? anybody?

[valiantvillain]

Finding out Odysseus's maternal grandfather was Autolycus, a literal thief and son of Hermes, implies to me that he did not get his cunning from Laertes. It also makes me want to write about Autolycus and Anticlea as a father-daughter crime duo scamming all the rich and powerful of Ancient Greece. Because you can't tell me the man wouldn't have taught his daughter a thing or two.

[an-unraveling-unknown]

You ever do something not thinking much of it, but after you do it you realize it was actually like a genius move?

This happened to me with my story: Started it off with a fairly standard conflict; someone wants what Tuon has. But afterward I was like "Oh shit, this is a prime opportunity to show his unyielding guardianship!" But not only that, I also realized that it did a great job at reflecting his flaws and sort of foreshadowing them to the reader

Oh man THATS SO GOOD!! It is so nifty when things work out like that, I hear you- long story relatively short, you betcha.

I had something like that with Aeonian, my Tav for Baldur's Gate 3. One of their quirks that I put down on paper early on was that the places were their muscles would be are rock hard - mainly because of the fact that they're cramming a monolithically sized form's worth of matter down into a humanoid body thats eight times smaller, hence putting a lot of strain on their body as a whole, but also à la a statue for a physical form.

"Statue for a physical form.... death and rebirth themes*......statue made of rock. wait."

Because I cannot escape my hyperfixations, geology was thrown back in my face in whence I was immediately reminded of the ROCK CYCLE:

-which can be pretty well-applied to the whole death and rebirth thing, not to mention a nifty little guideline as to how their character arc can go as well as Aeonian's place as a story in of themselves (long story, involves statues though) and their tendency to 'erode' themselves per se if it means getting where they need to be. Metamorphosis also links pretty cleanly here too, not only because of the metamorphic rock and its processes but because of parallels between Aeonian (embodiment of death [at sea]) and Thanatos, the greek personification of death, who is usually represented by way of butterflies.

I'm real bad at explaining things so I apologize if none of this made a lick of sense, I promise it's a lot clearer in my head and please feel free to ask for clarity on anything!! this is probably some of my favorite character work I've done so far

*dionysus+being the literal embodiment of death [at sea,] longer story

(Please talk more about Tuon he is SO cool and I talk too much, that's some really good character writing)

[hypermascbishounen]

So, I haven't played Curse of Darkness myself, and I've never enjoyed Netflixvania. But, I feel like I've noticed something particular, that I have not seen mentioned by anyone. And am curious what fans of Curse of Darkness specifically would think about my reading of this.

It seems to me that in game, Hector and Isaac both have names that are meaningful to their characters, but also come with connotations of another implied meaning, as each others foils, that feel just as important.

Game Isaac seems to be named in reference to the biblical Isaac, bc he is effectively a sacrificial son. But he is also out to ruin Hector in retaliation, to the point of needless cruelty, because of his grief and madness. Like Achilles, from the Iliad(or he possibly also has Ajax parrelels, another notable opponent to Hector).

And game Hector seems named for the Illiad's Hector, bc like him, he is at his core a sympathetic and honorable man who was nonetheless on the wrong side of a bloody conflict. But he is also cast out by a patriarchal figure, like bliblical Isaac's brother and counterpart, Ishmael. (There's also possibility for Achilles parallels himself, thanks to his vengeance quest over his own lost love. Which also seem to be part of his narrative comparisons to Dracula)

So I suspect that the reason N!Isaac ends up with a sort of unearned version of game Hector's arc and themes, that is hard to tell if it was even intentional, is because:

Unlike in the bible, in the *Quran*, Isaac and Ishmael have their roles switched. Ishmael is the central focus instead of Isaac, and is the sacrifice, before he is cast out into the desert, and becomes a founding figure in islam. This is probably why Dracula literally finds N!Isaac in the sahara desert(and banishes him there again).

So, N!Isaac, as a muslim, is no longer treated as a reference to the biblical Isaac, but is an Ishmael archetype, which *is what Hector is supposed to be.* But N!Hector's role as being his foil is gone, and instead he's at best there to weakly prop up how much better N!Isaac is by comparison. (And I don't believe him being "sacrificed" to Ellis' fetish writing counts either, bc he's framed more as a pet dog than a lamb, and it's not really connected much to his relationship with N!Isaac.)

Meanwhile, because N!Hector is no longer a proper foil, or respected by the narrative, he's also lost all symbolism behind the name Hector. And in turn, N!Isaac has completely lost all of game Isaac's illiad parallels.

Game Isaac as Achilles' less flattering qualities - of arrogance and need for recognition through glory, his grief and self-hatred over not being there to protect the person who meant the most to him, and his uncalled for ruthlessness and disrespect for his opponent, that ultimately leads to his death -

Or possibly Ajax, who was often considered second best to Achilles, who felt entitled to Achilles armor, and when passed over had violent delusions that lead to him killing himself with Hector's sword

- is just completely missing as an axis in N!Isaac. He doesn't even really get any *positive* Achilles or Ajax symbolism iirc, or any illiad Hector symbolism to complete the reversal either. His character is a one note(and clumsy) Ishmael archetype, who can only really be held up as great by the narrative no matter what he's done, or is doing.

Obviously, N!Isaac's freedom/agency arc is also tied up in him being a former slave. But I do think that him being muslim, and the way he's framed akin to Ishmael, is meant to line up with it. Which decision was made first/whether it was at the same time is debatable. But either way, it leads to him being an almost immediate inversion of game isaac's character from the basic themes. And bc game Isaac was already designed mirroring Hector, N!Isaac would inevitably just become a low-level partial rendition of game Hector.

This all bothers me, if my suspicions are correct. It looks like hugely wasted potential, and worse, the kind of writing decision borne of not paying attention to the source materials themes, bc it wasn't respected, and thought to not have them at all. Trading dual literary references meant to reinforce two characters relationship, for a single one-sided one, is just weaker writing. To the point where it seems unthinkable to do consciously, and has to have been from not even realizing there was something there to leave out. I come away feeling like the nfcv writers think they're smarter than the games writers, but with little evidence to show that. And that these characters deserved better.

Is this a fair interpretation or am I reaching too far with CoD's themes? Did I forget anything major about this in regards to nfcv? Has this all been mentioned before, and I'm just re-treading basic analysis? Feel free to lmk, bc I am but some guy with a mythology special interest passing through, who goes slightly insane wnv I see allusions to things I recognize, go unnoticed and neglected by supposedly professional writers, lol.

[jeanmoreaux]

elif shafak, from the island of missing trees

[idiopath-fic-smile]

(every time i think i'm done, @greenlikethesea posts another banger and i think "well what if i did just one more?")

so yeah, i wrote another song inspired by the fictional music in @greatunironic's Steddie epic the most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you. cover art i borrowed from @bienmoreau, whose work in this universe is just delightful.

i was thinking specifically of the emotional landscape that would've produced the album boy with a bat, the highs and lows and the feeling of going through it all surrounded by people you love, both romantically re: steve, but also in the found family sense. my first instinct with the title of this song was that telling the wolves was in some way an act of defiance, but then i thought about eddie the outcast, eddie the former town pariah, regarded as other and dangerous, and i decided that in my interpretation, the wolves are his people, so to speak. i wanted a howl-like effect on that line, and in an effort not to short out my microphone, i literally sang the word "home" with my head thrown back to the sky like a werewolf.

Lyrics under the cut!

A late night flight or two Stars and cars and cornfields formed the view Gathered here to watch the light go out the final time To say what must be said: “you are not an island,” “come to bed” Though it doesn't mean the things you want it to, it's fine

in the morning there will be noise and life and buzz It doesn't mean the things you want until it does

Looked so long that I forgot to see, to see Lingered in his doorway, he was waiting there for me

Tell the wolves I'm home been rambling since Rome family, I'm back Tell the wolves I'm home some things you do alone but some, they take a pack

Starting at the end around a table, bullshitting with friends Gathered here to watch the light go out the final time To do what must be done smoking up and lunch and grocery runs leaning on each other, let me take your weight, it's mine

In the morning there will be laughter, loss and food And something new that's growing, something good

Pain and joy bloom endlessly until we fall apart Sitting watching Nancy's kid run circles in the yard

Tell the wolves I'm home been rambling since Rome family, I'm back Tell the wolves I'm home some things you do alone but some, they take a pack

Tell the wolves I'm home Tell the wolves I'm home Tell the wolves I'm home

[just-a-starfruit]

I wrote this Fantasy AU!Ateez Drabble a while back, here, take it!

No really, please, it’s been sitting in my Google drive for almost 4 years

Word Count: 336

TW: None

——————

With two kingdoms at war, it was as if Hades himself was at their side, and he perhaps was. The whole day had been almost too perfect, and Hongjoong smirked, invisible due to the cover of the outer castle walls, but caused goosebumps to come over the other 7 masked figures. For months, the group, along with a small faction within the walls, had been waiting for the perfect chance to finally seize control, and here it was. They had been monitoring the feud for months, and watched as the tensions rose, until finally, like watching an egg drop to the dusty market ground, it broke, and what was once a peaceful alliance was forgotten in favor of bloodshed. To say the lord of the underworld himself didn’t have a part in it would be a lie, an understatement, a laughable one at that.

The light of a newly blazing fire leaks over the stone wall, and a bit of moss crumbles and falls onto the ground around them.

It was time for their arrival. Instead of just simply barging in and taking the crown, that would have been a death wish with no real change, after all, the crown was just a gaudy piece of metal placed on a target. They instead opted for bigger, better, more ambitious. The throne. An unshakable symbol of power, he who holds the crown may look good in front of a nation, but he who sits upon the throne has the true power.

A clink and a long drawn out creak, followed by dust only lost souls know how long had been accumulating. A hiss, a snap and a spark followed by a lantern sputtering to life, illuminating the escape route used only by the king’s court for Seonghwa, Mingi, San, and Jongho. The royalty themselves, a panel of 12, had a separate route that the other 4, Hongjoong, Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Yunho are already on their way to shut down and eliminate those who used it to flee.

[suna1suna1]

Okay, new WIP Wednesday Game

I'm going to number each fic, and underneath that number and title, I will post the last 3 paragraphs of that fic I have written. I'm excluding the one I plan on updating next, so Sweets and Secrets won't be here this week.

But you can send an ask, a reply, or a reblog with one or more numbers or titles, and I will set a 25-minute timer and work on those fics

Which for me means I'll probably get about 500 words worth of progress if I can focus

Feel free to do this too if you want!

Here are the fic numbers and titles if you don't want spoilers:

Angels and Demons

Dark Gaia Boom Sonadow (Title is a WIP)

H&P Whispangle one-shot (Title is a WIP)

Immortality (Shadamy Week 2023)

The Heart of the Ark

Here we go, fics below the cut! Spoilers ahead!

TW(s) // The Whispangle WIP touches on a past suicide in that AU where I left off, so do tread carefully

And the Immortality Shadamy fic alludes to some of what Zeus tends to do in Greek Mythology, but it does not outright state what it is, and I tried to keep it as vague as possible.

Angels and Demons

“We should be safe here,” the echidna said, carefully setting Shadow down on the ground. “Now can you explain who you really are?”

“Could I get your name first?” Shadow asked. 

“Oh,” the echidna said, as if he’d been startled. “I am Knuckles, the last of the mighty Echidnas.”

2. Dark Gaia Boom Sonadow (Title is a WIP)

Tails stood there for a little longer, then a look of determination set itself onto his face, and he ran out of the hospital with nothing more than a rushed goodbye. 

Sonic was about to try to follow him when someone called his name behind him. He turned to find a tired beaver with a pair of glasses and a clipboard standing in the doorway. “Your friend is stable,” she said, almost as if she could hardly believe it. “He’s still unconscious but he looks like he’ll pull through.”

Sonic sighed, his shoulders finally relaxing. “Phew,” he said. “For a minute there I thought he was a goner.”

3. H&P Whispangle one-shot (Title is a WIP)

Whisper stroked Tangle’s fingers with her thumb. “I know,” she said. “I hear you mutter someone’s name sometimes in your sleep. You tell them not to jump.”

“My father.” Tangle shifted away from Whisper. “He didn’t listen.”

They were both quiet for a moment, until Whisper asked, “How old were you?”

4. Immortality (Shadamy Week 2023)

“Then come along.”

Hades commanded Cerberus to stand, and they continued their way through the Fields of Punishment. Hades avoided looking at Kore, whom he could practically feel the waves of disgust and anger rolling off of. 

He had to admit, Kore had a point. There were many people who could be argued didn’t belong here—especially if Zeus had any say in it, given they often did the same things the thunder god got away with on the daily.

5. The Heart of the Ark

“Focus on exhaling,” Tails said. “Your body has too much carbon dioxide from the air in there. Try and get as much of it out as you can.”

Sonic nodded and pushed himself to his feet, exhaling forcefully. “Let’s find Knuckles,” he said. “Unless he found a big ugly monster too.”

Amy nodded and followed as the boys set out down the hallway.

[i-didnt-do-1t]

‘Cowboy don’t mean Lone Ranger’

Powm’

[someabsolutenonsense]

Okay don’t mind me but two of my literary fixations may have crossed over and I’m now obligated to discuss it

Ignore me or I will inflict upon you my “Yes The Locked Tomb Is Catholicism But Also Look At The Greek Tragedy It’s There I’m Not Making This Up” agenda

Okay so in Agamemnon, the first play in Aeschylus’ The Orestia there’s this scene where Agamemnon comes back from winning the Trojan War and sees his wife Clytemnestra for the first time in years. So Agamemnon if you are unaware is the actual worst and killed their daughter Iphigenia as a sacrifice…it’s a whole thing, basically Clytemnestra’s planning to kill him for very valid reasons. This is relevant cause she’s staged this whole situation to quietly assert power over him with some casual manipulation and taunting of the gods.

So Clytemnestra has these purple carpets like spread out for Agamemnon to walk on to go inside and he’s like arguing

“You’ll draw down envy. That stuff is for gods. I am a mortal. I can’t trample luxuries underfoot. Honor me as a man not as a divinity.” (Anne Carson translation)

“Strew not this purple that shall make each step an arrogance; such pomp beseems the gods, not me. A mortal man to set his foot on these rich dyes?” (E.D.A. Morshead translation)

Basically Clytemnestra is manipulating Agamemnon into an act that puts him above the gods, and he does it and dies by the end of the play. Greek tragedy, am I right? Poetic.

Now we go to Gideon The Ninth page 307. Palamades has brought Harrow to look at perpetual bone in the keyhole of that one door. They have established that this is intense and definitely would need a powerful necromancer to undo. Then we get…

Palamades: “I didn’t bring you here to remove it, I just brought you here to confirm, which you’ve done nicely, thank you.”

Harrow: “Excuse me. I never said I couldn’t remove it.”

Palamades: “You don’t think…?”

And then the narration says…

“It was the Harrowhark of old who responded, the one who walked down dusty Ninth House halls as though crushing purple silk beneath her feet.”

Now…I may be reading into things too far, seeing Greek Tragedy where there is none. But if my analysis is anything than this is saying not only was Harrow walking around like she was above the gods all the time, but she was doing this with ease when even AGAMEMNON, daughter killing Cassandra capturing returning in glory from the Trojan war Agamemnon from the absolute worst most cursed family in all of Greek tragedy, even he was like “oh shit yeah we don’t walk on the purple carpets.” To be clear I’m not making a Harrow-Agamemnon parallel, not really. I’m saying Harrow, probably the most religious character in these fucking books, is compared to an act of utter disrespect to the gods. Harrowhark Nonagesimus of the past just had that kind of fucking hubris. And not that she knew but…she was pretty terrible to God’s Actual Daughter in those “…crushing purple silk…” days too. Just pointing that out. And Harrow set out to become a lyctor, where Agammemnon said “honor me as a man not a divinity,” Harrow said I’m literally going to be a saint I’ll do it all by myself and no one can stop me. And eventually she did get to walk among the gods/saints/lyctors/whatever. To become one even. And it only brought her pain. I could go on, and perhaps make my thoughts more coherent, but not now.

Also sidenotes, Harrow’s dad’s name is Priamhark and Priam was the king of Troy, another person who fought (against Troy) was named Palamades, the books all include dramatis personae and are split into acts, Harrow starts with a prologue and a parados like in a Greek Play, and I could pitch Gideon’s 2nd person narration from inside Harrow’s mind as a Greek Chorus though that one’s a bit more of a stretch.

[inamindfarfaraway]

It isn't enough for me to obsess over the complicated, angsty canon Hatchetfield characters and how they relate to the lore and worldbuilding, because I'm compelled to make an OC who's complicated and angsty and related to the lore and worldbuilding to also obsess over.