#greek orpheus

[thorns-in-daisy-fields]

Icarus

flung himself

towards the

sun,

-

Orpheus

crossed

the point of

no return,

-

and Achilles

tipped the scales

at the price of his life

for the relief

of his lover's justice.

-

-

And me?

-

-

I sit on

my bedroom floor

with my head

between my knees

knowing love and grief

walk hand in hand

with fear and madness

following close behind.

-

-

I felt Icarus stumble

with clumsy wings

as he chased the one thing

that kept him from

freezing to death

-

He hugs me around the neck.

He whispers into my ear,

"It is worth it."

He squeezes me as if to beg

me to listen.

As if we'll both regret it if I don't.

"It is worth it. It is worth it. It is worth it."

-

So I ignore the warnings.

I ignore the flames.

I ignore the water.

-

Because

according to Icarus

it is worth it.

-

It is worth it. It is worth it. It is worth it.

-

-

I felt Orpheus' life crumble

at the alter

as he lost everything

that made his life

worth living.

-

He taps my shoulder

as I walk through Hades' trial.

I keep my eyes facing forward.

"There are no second chances here"

he warns me, his voice just above

a whisper.

"You might as well gouge your eyes out now

if you still want to stand a chance."

I squeez then shut instead.

-

Though, I wonder if he is right.

-

Before I know it, I'm looking for something to do it with

because Orpheus said

it was my only hope.

-

-

I felt Achilles scream and tear his hair out

when he found

his whole world

gone.

I felt the earth shudder as he

cried.

-

He stands beside me like a soldier.

He leans closer as he speaks,

his voice carrying the calmness

of a broken man.

"I say do what you will..."

-

He is quiet for a long moment.

I watch him for an answer.

He seems annoyed.

As if

his answer is obvious.

-

"...You see, you'll do everything

you can,

and they'll still be gone,

and it will still

be your fault...

And when it's over?"

He pauses again

and his silence weighs my chest down.

"Well..."

He doesn't say anything else.

-

He doesn't say anything else because he doesn't need to.

-

Icarus is a dead man.

Orpheus is a dead man.

Achilles

is

a

dead

man.

-

-

They are dead because love and

tragedy

go hand in hand,

yet they still had the courage

to follow

close behind.

-

-

-is gouging my eyes out really the answer?

[aaloosshitposting]

"If I were orpheus I wouldn't look back"

But we look back everyday- rechecking emails, making sure a friend is still behind you, checking to see if you remebered to pick up your keys. It's second nature, a habit of care.

It was second nature for him too. He looked back, not out of weakness, but love. For what is love, if not to look back?

[amajorsystem]

[likethexan]

Why is it always about Orpheus turning back foolishly and never about Eurydice following him out of the Underworld, likely knowing she was doomed. That Orpheus went all this way, singing the story of their love, hopeful that he will return her to the surface and finally build their life together— but they will not. She knows her Orpheus will turn back. And yet she still follows him, all the way to the top, because the simple pleasure of seeing his back again is enough for her. Isn’t that a foolish thing to do for love?

[gigizetz]

eurydice <3

[mishoru]

It's an old tale

[kittyoperas]

lover’s desire.

[siderains]

jokes aside, the dialogue

“orpheus… can you look at me?”

and he doesn’t turn

“please, look at me.”

“i dont want to.”

“why?”

“because you’re not coming with me, are you?”

might be a refreshing take on an old tale, might be a love letter to mythology, yeah congrats kaos writers for making something truly interesting

[where-that-old-train-goes]

not normal about orpheus and eurydice. you loved someone so much it opened the stones of the underworld. so much that death had to listen. so much that everything stopped for your love. so much that you turned around. so much that even when you did wrong. she forgave you.

[watchthedeadboys]

Meet and fall in love with the Orpheus and Eurydice from Dead Boy Detectives. I promise it doesn't hurt. Much.

[isthemicon]

Kaos on Netflix is a bit as if someone who loved Percy Jackson growing up was told they are too old to like it so they took their love for it and combined it with Succession while listening to Hadestown soundtrack and watching Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann

[mcsiggy]

i made this awhile ago and forgot about it until now so uhh here u go lol

[thecollectibles]

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE by danlin zhang

[godihatechoosingusernames]

Merlin would have loved saying he would have NEVER turned back if he was in Orpheus's place

Arthur would have loved saying he would have NEVER let Patroclus fight instead of him if he was in Achilles's place

[to-be-a-dreamer]

I can’t stand that TikTok trend that’s like “just saw Hadestown and my boyfriend is walking the entire way back to the hotel without looking back at me to prove Orpheus was a chump” because not only do they not get the whole point of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth they also Were Not Paying Attention to the musical they just saw.

Hate people who see WSS as “just a Romeo and Juliet retelling”. Hate people who see Hadestown as “Just an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling”.

Hate people who watch a musical that takes a classic story everyone knows and uses it to explore/critique our modern society and only see it as a funky retelling.

Not Getting The Point of WSS is one thing because it’s more subtle and it can be really easy to just see it as a modern R&J, especially if you don’t really know R&J.

How the fuck do you watch Hadestown and see it as just an O&E retelling? It is one of the most heavy-handed political musicals out there how are so many people missing the point?

Orpheus has to fail. Not because that’s how the Greek myth ends but because that’s the whole point of the message of Hadestown.

Social reform is hard. Changing the world is one of the most challenging things you can try to do. So often we see people try to make a difference in society, to change some kind of injustice in the world. And so often we see those people fail. It can feel so impossible to actually do some good in this fucked up world because we see these people who are smarter and stronger and more qualified than us fail over and over again.

Why do we even keep trying?

Because we have to.

Because one day, someone will try and they’ll succeed.

One day Orpheus won’t turn around.

One day the people of Hadestown will get to see someone escape and they’ll know they can escape too. Only then does the world get to change.

So we have to try. We have to keep singing the sad song, no matter how many times Orpheus turns around, because one day he won’t.

In the Greek myth, Orpheus fails because he loves Eurydice.

In Hadestown, Orpheus fails because we fail.

We try and we fail to make a difference. We try and we fail to change the world for the better. We try to see the world for what it could be and it keeps letting us down.

But we don’t give up. We don’t stop singing.

Hadestown is genuinely one of the best musicals ever. Full stop. This musical is one of the reasons i wish I was smarter because I would love to be able to do an entire thesis on this show and all the themes and messages in it. Some of them are subtle. Some of them aren’t.

It is not just an Orpheus and Eurydice retelling. I am begging people to hear the real message.

Never stop trying to change the world.

One day we’ll make it out of Hadestown.

We just have to keep singing the song.

[gigizetz]

Can I pretty pretty please have a drawing of Orpheus and Eurydice singing together?

here is an offering

🪶

thank you for the offering it was delicious