#if this war goes on the Trojans are sure to lose

[secretceremonials]

out: Cassandra of Troy speaking in mysterious metaphors and oracle verse

in: Cassandra of Troy talking like uncle Colm from Derry girls so she’s so boring that nobody takes anything in

[aphroditelovesu]

Yandere Greek Heroes - Profile

‘‘You are the cause of all this destruction, honey. Watch and smile.‘‘ - Greek Heroes.

❝⚡️— lady l: yes, I know, it took me a long time to do this and I sincerely apologize. I started doing this a while ago but I always had to take breaks on account of other matters and this yandere profile was forgotten. I hope you forgive me! I made the main Greek heroes and some extras, but not all of them are here because it would be too big. I will do the female part and, if anyone wants, I can do part two of the male Greek heroes with other characters. Good reading and sorry for any mistakes!!

❝tw: yandere themes in general, dub-con, possessive and obsessive behavior, manipulations, mentions of mental breakdown. If you feel uncomfortable with any of these themes, I recommend not reading.

❝⚡️word count: +2,5k

OBSESSIVE

Hercules, popularly known by his roman name but his greek name is Heracles and in some versions Alcides, is a bastard son of the god Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. He is best known for having completed the Twelve Labors.

"Me and you, my love, let's just hold each other today. No going out."

Hercules is an obsessive and possessive bastard, he is very paranoid and jealous. You are not allowed to leave his side.

You can say anything about Hercules, as long as it doesn't involve you. Beat him, call him names, curse him, but never, under any circumstances, drag your name into the fray.

There's nothing he wouldn't put up with for you. This man would do anything for his darling, he is not afraid or hesitant to kill, torture, disembowel anyone who gets in his way. On your way.

He became paranoid after killing his entire family in an act of insanity, so he's terrified of accidentally ending up killing you. If he thought about hurting you, Hercules would back away. Just the thought of you dying drives him crazy.

He's overprotective too, not letting you go out without him and when you do he scans every passer-by thoroughly, just to make sure they don't hurt you. You can never be too cautious.

Hercules is a suffocating and obsessive yandere, he will never be far from you. The demigod will always be watching you like a shadow.

There's no way you can run away from it. Just allow yourself to be loved obsessively by Hercules.

"I... I just love you so much, Y/N. I love you in ways you cannot imagine."

Kinks: breeding kink, dom.

Nicknames: my love, my Queen/King.

POSSESSIVE

Achilles is the son of the nereid Thetis and King Peleus. He is considered one of the greatest warriors of Ancient Greece and is known to have participated in the Trojan War.

"...why are you fighting with me, baby? That bastard deserved to be spanked! He dared to flirt with you and I'm the only one allowed to do that."

Achilles is one of the most possessive greek heroes of all. His jealousy, however, is often out of control and he almost ends up beating people he considers a threat to your love to death.

To say that Achilles is possessive is a huge understatement, because he is so much more than that. He cries out for your attention 24 hours a day, every day of the year. For this hero, having your attention and devotion directed only to him never hurts. He is revered by all as one of the greatest warriors of all time, he is used to attention and expects nothing less from you.

Achilles is a warrior, body and soul, so there isn't much kindness in him, but the hero goes out of his way to be good to you. He tries hard not to hurt or scare you, his big, callused hands will be nothing more than feathery, touching you gently as if he's too scared of losing you and hurting you.

He is known to be vindictive and that is true, Achilles will take revenge on anyone and anything if anything happened to you, what he did to Hector is nowhere near what he will do to anyone who dares to lift a finger at you.

Achilles however does have some qualities and one of them is his devotion towards you, he is completely loyal to you and only you, he will follow you wherever you go. He wants to take care of you and he will. This man will do anything for you, just ask.

''It's so sweet that you think you can run away from me, my princess/prince. I think that's adorable, you know? That hope you carry, but don't worry, I don't mean to ruin it. Not yet, at least.''

Kinks: dom, rough sex and role play (don't ask me why)

Nicknames: sweetie, Princess/Prince.

DELIRIOUS

Theseus was a great Athenian hero, best known for defeating the Minotaur. He was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens and Aethra.

"I love you so much, my love, and I can't wait for the day when I can hold you in my arms every day. You can't wait either, can you? But I promise the wait will be worth it."

Theseus is one of the greatest greek heroes of all time, his strength and history are well known. He is a delusional yandere, daydreaming about his darling every minute of his day.

You are on the hero's mind day and night, all the time, he couldn't stop thinking about you. He just wasn't able to do it, so he didn't try to fight it, but chose to feed his own obsession.

Theseus met you after it was he who saved you from being sacrificed to the Minotaur and from that day forward he found himself thinking of you constantly. Many times these thoughts wandered, questioning whether you were fine, even how it would be if you and he had children. All thoughts were focused on him and you, the two of you together like a true couple.

Theseus would spoil and love you, like you should be loved and spoiled, like the fucking goddess/god he's sure you are.

Theseus isn't usually very possessive, he knows how perfect he is, he's full of himself and he laughs at the thought of you flirting with another man or woman. He was enough for you and you for him, there's no way you can think of another man with him by your side. But that doesn't mean he doesn't get jealous, because he does, but not so easily and he's downright cocky when he's jealous, pettyly criticizing his rival.

He is loving and caring when he gets what he wants and he always gets what he wants. He really is in love with you, in a yandere and obsessive way, but he is and Theseus will do anything to see you smile.

Just be careful with your choices, because he won't let you go as his obsession and desire for you grows more and more.

''I love your smile, my baby, your perfect face becomes even more beautiful when you're smiling. Please keep smiling at me always.''

Kinks: dom, adoration (he adoring you).

Nicknames: Baby, Goddess/God.

CONTROLLER

Bellerophon was a Greek hero most worshiped in the cities of Lydia and Corinth. He was best known for riding Pegasus. Son of Poseidon and was adopted by Glaucus, king of Ephyra.

''I'm perfect and so are you. We're both made for each other, can't you see that? There is no one better than me for you and no one more perfect than you for me. We will stick together.''

He is best known for his arrogance, after comparing himself to the gods themselves and deciding to go live on Mount Olympus, which was the cause of his death. He is a controlling and obsessive yandere, going so far as to lock up his darling if he can do it.

Bellerophon is the very definition of arrogant and greedy, these are characteristics that describe them very well. He is greedy for his sweetheart and glory, he wants to be the most worshiped and he demands this worship from his sweetheart and he will get irritated if he doesn't get it.

He's not the possessive type and it's rare for him to get jealous. aiming that he knows he is the one for his darling and there is nothing to be afraid of. They were his as much as he is theirs. It is so and it will always be so.

Bellerophon is an extremely controlling yandere, if he could, he would even control your breathing. He wants to know everything about his darling, they shameful stories to they darkest secrets and desires, everything. He doesn't want you to hide anything from him and will not tolerate secrets as you are his and as such you must be transparent to her with your desires and thoughts.

Needless to say, he is suffocating because only the gods themselves know how much this man is always glued to your side. He is always with you, breathing down your neck and watching your every move like an eagle.

There's no escaping him, not when Bellerophon is always glued to your hip.

''You are mine, your every thought belongs to me, everything about you is mine. And I don't share.''

Kinks: rough sex and suffocating his darling.

Nicknames: Love, Darling.

DEVOTEE

Orpheus was a great musician and poet of Ancient Greece. He is best known for going to the Underworld to seek his beloved and failing in the process. He is the son of Calliope, a Greek muse, and the god Apollo.

"Not even the muses could inspire me to sing a song about you. There aren't enough words to sing about my love for you."

If there's one thing we can say about Orpheus it's how passionate and devoted he is to his beloved, his love for you has never wavered through all the years and never will. He loves you completely, soul, body and heart, he gives himself to you with his whole being.

Orpheus loves too much and that is his greatest downfall. There's nothing he wouldn't do for you, for the person he's obsessively in love with, and that could be dangerous.

He won't rest until he makes you happy, he loves to sing songs and read poems to you and they are all about how he feels about you.

Orpheus is a simple man, he just wants to live his life with you forever if he can. There aren't many mysteries to his obsession with you, just that he's willing to do anything for you and your love. He's not in favor of murder, but for you, he'd kill anyone.

"I love you more than I can put in poems and songs. Please never leave me, I couldn't imagine my life without you by my side."

Kinks: breeding kink (he would love to have kids with his darling).

Nicknames: Muse (ironic, I know), Princess/Prince, love.

OBSESSIVE

Adonis was considered one of the most handsome men in Greek Mythology. Son of the incestuous relationship of Cinyras and Myrrha, according to Ovid, but in Hesiod's version he is the son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea. He was the mortal lover of Aphrodite and, in some versions, of Persephone as well.

"I will never let you go even if I wanted to. We belong together forever."

Adonis is completely obsessed with you, he knows everything about you and he lives fantasizing about his life with his darling. You are everything to him, this man can no longer live without you. He just can't and doesn't want to.

His biggest dream is to marry his sweetheart and if he gets the chance he will. Adonis adores you deeply and no one knows why. Maybe it's because you're the one who isn't focused on his looks anymore or just because he fell in love with you at first sight, according to him.

He's very possessive of you and doesn't even try to hide it, it's not like he wants to either. You are his and everyone should know that, including you. If the love bites and suck marks on your body don't speak for themselves, Adonis will do so.

Because he is very obsessive, Adonis will never give up on you, not even in death. You belong together and that's forever and ever.

Don't worry though, he is very loving and clingy to you and will always be there for you. Whether for better or for worse, Adonis will never leave you alone.

"My love for you is greater than my beauty."

Kinks: adoration, daddykink/mommykink (don't ask me).

Nicknames: Love, Baby.

DELIRIOUS

Perseus is one of the most famous greek heroes. He is best known for having beheaded Medusa. Son of Zeus and the mortal princess Danae.

"I could never hurt you. I love you too much for that."

Perseus is the very definition of a delusional yandere, he dreams of his darling 24 hours a day, awake or asleep, you are always in the demigod's thoughts. And he doesn't even try to hide that he's thinking about you.

And why should he? He is very obsessive and insistent in his obsession with you, he doesn't intend to ever let you go. Perseus can't live without you anymore, not without his reason to live. Don't you understand that? You are everything to him, everything.

Perseus cannot live without you. He knows it, you know it, everyone knows it. If something were to happen to you he would go into a deep state of despair and rage.

You can't disappear... Unless you want a lot of people to suffer with your choices, because Perseus won't stop until he has you all to himself. He won't stop until he has all his fantasies fulfilled. And he will cut down anyone who dares to get in his way.

You are the reason for his entire existence and Perseus will never leave you. He will never stop dreaming and raving about you. Never.

Stay with him. Perseus will make sure you never lack for anything. He is so unconscious in his obsession with you that there is nothing he doesn't want more than your happiness. Beside him, of course.

"Our love is strong enough for your petty form of denial. You know you don't really mean it, my princess/prince. You love me and I love you. Always."

Kinks: worship kink, slight degradation and humiliation.

Nicknames: Princess/Prince, love.

OVERPROTECTIVE

Jason is a greek hero son of Aeson. He is best known for being on the ship of the Argonauts and having married Medea.

"The world is a very dangerous place, my love. I cannot and will not allow anything to hurt you. I promise you."

Jason has seen a lot of bad things and bad people, so he developed a very strong paranoia about your safety. He acts incandescently around his obsession. He is always very alert and constantly scanning the environment around you closely.

He just doesn't want anything bad to happen to you. Is this so wrong? Is it so wrong that he doesn't want anyone to look at you? Touch you? No, it's not. Jason knows it's not wrong, he's just doing all this because he loves you so, so much.

And it is his duty, as your only protector, to protect and love you with all his might. And he will do his duties, his duties with all the pleasure in the world. Jason would do anything for you.

He would die for you, he would kill for you. He exists for you, he longs for you. He wants you. All of you.

"You are very important to me. I will protect you with everything I have."

Kinks: degradation and slight breeding kink.

Nicknames: Love, Darling, Baby.

STALKER

Patroclus was the son of Menoetius. Best known for having acted in the Trojan War, where he was killed by Hector.

"I will follow you to Hades to never be separated from you."

Patroclus is a great stalker, he will literally follow you to Hades itself without any kind of hesitation. He also knows everything about you, absolutely everything. Your secrets will become his secrets. Your desires will become his desires.

Everything that belongs to him will belong to you. You and him. The two of you and it will always be like this.

He is a big soft yandere for you, but only for you. This man would never, under any circumstances, hurt you. He could never and never wants to hurt you, he cares for you more than anything, he loves you more than anything, how could he even dare to think about hurting you?

You are everything to him, absolutely everything. All that is his is also yours, all that you want will be yours. He's willing to do anything for you, no matter what the consequences, because at the end of the day, you're the only thing that really matters.

It's you who really has all the power over him, you're the only person Patroclus wants and is willing to commit atrocities to keep you by his side. Only you, you hold all the power and control and he's happy about that.

He loves you and that's what he tells himself when he goes to sleep, that everything he did is in the name of your love, nothing will have been in vain for you.

Patroclus would never hurt you, but be very careful with him, because he can misinterpret your words and this can lead to irreparable actions. It will all depend on you, in the end, and he will always be there for you.

‘‘Everything I've done... Everything I do is for you, my love, and it will always be for you.’‘

Kinks: worship, pet names and breeding kink.

Nicknames: Love, Honey, Sweet.

OVERPROTECTIVE

Hector was one of the main trojan warriors during the Trojan War. He was a prince of Troy, one of the children of King Priam and Queen Hecuba.

''I can't let you out, I can't and I won't risk your safety. It's all for your own good.''

Hector is an extremely overprotective yandere of his darling, he gets paranoid just seeing a scratch on your skin, breaking a nail or just sneezing. He goes crazy with worry when he sees something that shouldn't be there, that he knows shouldn't be there.

He will overreact if you get hurt, even if it's harmless. You are everything to him and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you, ever. He will take care of you, he will always protect you.

Always.

You'll basically have a bodyguard, so Hector is always at your side, watching your surroundings carefully. Danger is always lurking and he will be damned if he lets any enemy try to harm him.

Anyone who tries to harm you will be dead immediately, but not before suffering a painful and well-deserved torture. No one can think of hurting you, let alone actually doing it. Hector will make sure anyone who threatens you is dealt with hard and fast, he will always have be your protector.

That man would die if anything happened to you, just the thought of it makes him sick with worry. You are everything to him and Hector will make sure you are loved and protected. He will do everything for you.

''Please let me take care of you. It's all I ask, all I need for peace is to have you safe..."

Kinks: breeding kink.

Nicknames: Y/A (your nickname), Love.

MANIPULATOR

Cadmus was a legendary phoenician founder of Boeotinan Thebes. During his time, he was one of Greece's greatest heroes and monster slayers. He was a phoenician prince, son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre.

''You are so blessed to have me, to have my love. Feel honored.''

Cadmus is a great manipulator, he knows very well how to use his... gifts to manipulate you, to control you. And that makes him happy, because you are his, wich means, you are his to manipulate.

He cares about you a lot, he loves you and that's why he wants to have complete control of you so he can keep you with him. Cadmus will never admit it but he's scared to death that you'll abandon him, that you'll leave him and if that happened he'd break, you're everything to this man and he won't let you leave his arms.

Everything he does is for you and will always be for you. For your sake. He has no qualms when it comes to you and will act violently if someone tries to steal you from him.

Cadmus loves you and that alone is enough for him. He doesn't quite understand his feelings but this desire, this obsession he has for you robs him of any good judgment he may have. Everything is you. From the moment he saw you, it's you and it will always be you.

He doesn't like to hurt and would rather make you suffer mentally than physically because it's safer to see you break down and have a mental breakdown than having you bleed out. Besides, he doesn't want to ruin your beautiful skin with scars.

Cadmus can be very dangerous and unstable when it comes to you, so be careful around him. His manipulations are dangerous but can keep you safe from his wrath.

''I'm doing all this because I love you and you know it.''

Kinks: degradation, dom.

Nicknames: Sweetie, Beautiful.

[littlesparklight]

Slavery in relation to mortal characters in Greek myth makes the thoughts crawl all around my brain!!!

All the women who were free but get enslaved during the Trojan war. Having to deal with not just losing their natal and marital families both (if they were married), losing their city, but losing what freedom they still did have has free women, whether elite or not. And then the ones who weren't free, and simply goes from one owner to the other...

Those who have been slaves most or all of their lives, like the women and men in Odysseus and Penelope's household.

Pieris/Tereis/Getis, the woman who Menelaos has Megapenthes with. The fact that Megapenthes gets to marry the daughter of a free, elite man... he's more free than his mother! It's a similar situation to what's going on with Teucer and Hesione.

The herdsmen (and their families) who so often find and raise the exposed demigods, or pass them on to their master.

Paris, who up until young adulthood grows up as a slave, and then suddenly gets thrust into not just freedom, but the greatest of privilege. But the fact that he was a slave up until that point will surely echo forward, too!

[dr-dendritic-trees]

I am working my way through The Power of Thetis by Laura Slatkin, and its a little above my reading level so I'm almost certainly missing some of the nuances of the argument:

But I'm really taken with the idea that Thetis's son is destined to be The Bomb That Blows Up The Social Order. This is also in Caroline Alexander's The War That Killed Achilles which is more lay person friendly so I'm pretty sure I understand that core argument.

Like, this doesn't really have anything, as far as I can tell, to do with Achilles himself. Alexander points out the ways he's a looming threat to Agamemnon's command, but he never goes through with that, and he's dead before Troy even actually falls.

Alexander points out pretty clearly that the Trojan War is just a disaster. Troy is destroyed, but so are most of the Greek forces (they almost all die, lose their kingdoms, get waylaid for years, generally have a bad time on the way home).

But like, oh, of course they did, when they went to Troy they brought The Bomb That Blows Up The Social Order.

[hyperfixation-or-death]

(okay, to understand any of this you have to be really familiar with the plot of Epic, i think)

Romane fills Odysseus's role. The reigning queen of Ithaca, returning home from the Trojan War. Deep down, she would trade the world to see her mother and sister again. (I'm sure that won't be important later.) 600 miles of open sea. She'll make it home. She has to.

Vanessa Chassangre fills both Anticlea and Penelope's roles. She's the mother who dies while the protagonist is away (Anticlea), but she's also one of the protagonist's two reasons for fighting to get home (Penelope). Romane finds her soul in the Underworld, and it almost destroys her. Then she realizes how desperately she has to get home now; Camille is in danger.

Camille fills Telemachus's role. Ever since her mother's death, the princess of Ithaca knows it's only a matter of time before someone seizes the empty throne. She isn't old enough to reign, but she'll still be seen as a threat. All she can do is wait for her sister to return, pray to the gods, and try her best to stall the inevitable.

Hugo is also there. He hangs out with Camille, tries to convince her not to carry out stupid plans, then fully backs up those stupid plans when she inevitably carries them out anyways. He's a few years older than her, and they're kind of best friends who can't stand each other.

Victor burned every bridge behind him when he left home. The last conversation between him and his parents left no doubt in his mind: only one son of theirs would be welcomed home after the war ended, and it wasn't him. So, his mindset when he meets Romane is basically, "I have nothing left in Ithaca. My entire purpose for living is going to have to be the next person who is nice to me." And Romane is moping around because she misses Camille. And Victor kind of reminds her of Camille. So they become friends, and from there....it kind of spirals into codependency. You'll see.

Sam is initially just trying not to have a breakdown making sure his brother doesn't die in this war. He doesn't know the full extent of what happened between Victor and their parents before he and Victor left. But he knows it wasn't good, so they don't talk about it. And he's so incredibly stressed out. (Romane's first impression of him is, "oh, that guy looks anxious enough to throw up at any second") But he meets Bilal, and they become friends. And Victor and Romane become friends, and eventually they all become close.

Bilal was friends with Romane since childhood. He didn't exactly want to be here, but he's survived the war. Now he just has to survive the journey home. And make sure Romane doesn't lose her mind. (Because, really, was he the only one to notice how ominous that thing about "man-made monsters" was after the Underworld? Was it really just him?)

Herve was about to marry Vanessa before she died. (He's probably not Camille's father in this, because idk how the timeline would work.) This probably means he has some claim to the throne, right? Well, he thinks so, at least. He'd much prefer a peaceful transfer of the crown, but if the princess keeps insisting that her sister is coming home...

Sofia was a close friend of Vanessa's before the latter's death. She was also (conveniently) favored by Athena. (She's actually the one who gets Odysseus's whole Warrior of the Mind plotline in the AU.) When the main characters leave for the war, she asks Athena to watch over her son, and she agrees. This goes well, until it doesn't.

(Each saga is summarized under the cut:)

The Troy Saga: Mostly the same. The main four are all friends by now. Consists of Romane basically going "I don't have a favorite member of this crew. I like Victor and all you non-Victors equally." and Athena following Bilal around to give him advice in increasingly obvious ways with absolutely no one else noticing. Things are mostly lighthearted-ish at this point.

The Cyclops Saga: Important to note that I am not killing off any of the main four because I simply do not want to. I do kill off many background characters, though. Athena reveals herself and tells Bilal to kill the cyclops. He refuses on the grounds of mercy and such. It's a really inspiring speech. The only problem is that it's so inspiring, it inspires someone else, possibly Victor, possibly Romane, possibly a random background character, to start yelling at the blinded cyclops about the whole "remember them, remember us, remember me" thing. Which...was not really what he was going for with that. This will definitely not come back to haunt them later. Anyways, Athena ditches him after that. He's sad about it.

The Ocean Saga: Luck Runs Out argument is either Sam or Bilal talking to Romane, idk. Maybe both. After Romane gets the bag with the storm inside, Victor offers to help watch it. She turns him down, because she can't stop thinking of worst-case scenarios at this point. She has to get home, she has to handle this herself and make sure nothing happens. Victor is somewhat hurt over this, taking it as a lack of trust. However, the person to open the bag is probably not a main character. After Poseidon drowns the majority of the fleet, Romane gives Victor a signal, and he's the one to open the bag for their escape. This kind of relieves his earlier thought that she didn't trust him, and they're on good terms again. Unfortunately, hundreds of people are now dead, which kind of overshadows that.

The Circe Saga: Circe's island is basically "this is the most inconvenient way possible to discover that i'm bi" for Romane and "this is the most convenient way possible to discover that i'm aspec" for Victor. Everyone's wracked with survivor's guilt as well. Also there's some more emphasis on Victor and Camille having some parallels (ha) with each other, and this is around the time Romane and Victor's friendship starts spiraling towards codependency. Sam and Bilal don't do as much this saga, because they're part of the group that Circe temporarily turns into pigs.

The Underworld Saga: Here's where everything takes an extremely sharp dive downhill. As they sail through the Underworld, Romane finds the soul of her mom and realizes that she had died while she was away. In a way, that breaks her, because she can go home, but it won't be the same. Not with her mom gone. Here is where her primary motive shifts from just "go home to my family" to "protect Camille at any cost, I'm all she has left and she's in danger now." And all the morals get blurred.

The Thunder Saga: The siren, taking the form of Romane's greatest desire, shifts into her mother for the Suffering scene and begs her to come home. Of course, due to the beeswax trick and Romane being aware that her mother is dead, this doesn't work.

At this point, Bilal is really, really concerned about Romane's mental state, and brings it up to Sam and Victor. Sam agrees. Victor outwardly denies that anything's wrong, but there's some doubt that he's burying deep down.

It's around this time that the crew starts getting suspicious of Victor. (He's clearly the favorite of the captain. He's refusing to hear any criticism of her methods. Didn't he say he was disowned before the war? Does he even care if he gets back to Ithaca? How far is he willing to take this?)

Victor reacts to this by distancing himself from the crew, aside from Bilal, Romane, and Sam.

Sam, on the other hand, is starting to grow closer with people outside of his brother and two friends. The guilt of the Underworld is haunting him, and he wants to make sure they don't lose anyone else.

This causes some conflict between Victor and Sam.

Romane, meanwhile, has made up her mind to sacrifice six people to Scylla. She steels herself, and tells Victor to light up six torches. He does, and she doesn't realize for a moment that he kept one to hold himself. When she realizes, she panics, makes a really hasty excuse for him to hand it off to someone else, and pulls him over to stand by her. She makes sure Sam and Bilal aren't holding a torch. By now, she's gotten the attention of most of the crew, but it's too late; Scylla approaches.

After the ensuing bloodshed, everyone is horrified.

Victor had handed out those torches. He had unknowingly sentenced those people to death. And- it was almost him. It was almost him, but Romane specifically saved him and let someone else die in his place.

And he started off this AU feeling like his parents' unwanted child, the least favorite. And he had wanted more than anything to know that someone cared about him specifically. He wanted to be someone's favorite, the first choice, he wanted to know that there was someone on his side no matter what.

That's what he had wanted, and that's what he got, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. (There's a part of him that's almost grateful. There's a part of him that's happy, and it makes him want to scream.)

Bilal confronts Romane. She only apologizes for having Victor light the torches; she hadn't been thinking. She should have done it herself, but she had been lost in thought, and-

(And she's not sorry for the rest? For the six lives they were supposed to protect? Suddenly Bilal isn't angry anymore; he's grieving. Grieving what this journey did to his friend.)

The cousin of the man Victor's torch had been handed to is screaming at Victor, accusing him of knowing what was going to happen. He had planned this, she says. He had planned this with Romane, and he was her favorite from the start because of her sister, everyone knew that, and now look what you've done-

Victor swears he didn't know, and he's hurt and furious, but Romane is still talking to Bilal. Romane's the one who did this, but Victor's the one who's there and he's ready to snap. Everything's building up to another breaking point.

A fight breaks out. Victor gets the upper hand, and almost stabs the man's cousin. Sam stops him just as Romane and Bilal return. Victor has a stunned and horrified moment of, "what am i doing? did i actually just almost do that?"

Sam is actually the one to start the mutiny. He knew the people sacrificed. They were his friends. And Romane was his friend, too. But this was too far.

The "you know you'd have done the same" line is extremely painful, because maybe she's right. She's doing this to keep her younger sister safe; would he have done the same for Victor, if he was in her place? Maybe he would have. But he's not in her place, and she's the one who just knowingly let six people die, and he can't let anyone else die. He can't.

Romane doesn't try to kill him, and he doesn't try to kill her. They're both fighting to subdue, and it's not working. Some background character decides that enough is enough, and moves to stab Romane.

Victor jumps in to take the hit. Even he isn't quite sure why. (She's his friend. She's his friend, and he'd do anything for her, and there's no one waiting for him back home. Maybe they're all right about him. Maybe there's more than one monster on this ship. But he's going to save his best friend.)

It's non-lethal, but it's still a stab wound. Everything stops. Everyone is horrified.

Somehow, with whatever follows that moment, they land at an island. I don't know who kills the sacred cow, but someone does, and Zeus arrives.

Except, the choice he gives Romane is different. She'll live no matter what; she'll have to live with whatever choice she makes. Three lives. Sam, Victor, Bilal. The lives of the remaining crew. (Idk how many are left, but it's more than in Epic canon at this point.)

There's no way out, no choice to make that isn't horrific. She saves her friends, and something breaks that can never be unbroken. Lightning strikes, and it's over.

Rest of The Sagas: Idk, the sagas aren't out yet. Camille, Hugo, and Sofia are all gonna be really important later in the AU, though.

and if i said Disney Parallels (2022) x Epic: The Musical AU. would you people see my vision....

[all-seeing-ifer]

Greek mythology references in Ulysses Dies at Dawn masterpost

I saw a post a while back by @spacetrashpile analysing all the arthurian references in High Noon Over Camelot, and since I know quite a bit about Greek mythology I figured “hey! I should do something like that for Ulysses Dies at Dawn!” I’m just going to go through each of the songs in order and analyse/explain the references in them - hopefully other people will find it interesting!

“The City”

Starting with the title - Ulysses is the Latin name of Odysseus, legendary king of Ithaca and hero of the epic poem The Odyssey. Interestingly, Ulysses is the only character in UDAD who is given a Latin name instead of a Greek one. There’s a couple of potential reasons for this but the most convincing to me is it’s meant to reflect Ulysses’ opposition to the Olympians, who are all based on the Greek gods.

Jonny calls the story a “labyrinthine task of a twisted tale”, referencing the Greek myth of the Minotaur, which was kept in a labyrinth to hide it from the world. This reference becomes even clearer when we later learn the City’s original name.

This one’s less a reference to Greek mythology and more to like, actual history, but the description of the City expanding to cover the whole planet is reminiscent of Greek expansion in ancient times. Ancient Greece was made up of many city-states, or poleis, which established colonies or “daughter-cities”, mostly in western Asia, or “Asia Minor” as the Greeks and Romans called it.

The story opens at a “run-down gin join” called Calypso’s - Calypso is a sea nymph who plays a fairly major role in The Odyssey, keeping Odysseus/Ulysses trapped on her island for seven years.

Fittingly enough, Calypso’s apparently pays money to Dionysus, whose mythological namesake is the Greek god of wine.

Broken Horses

Ilium is the Ancient Greek name for Troy, the city that Greece went to war against, according to myth,. Part of this war is described in the epic poem The Iliad, in which Odysseus is one of the soldiers laying siege to Troy.

Much like the Trojan War of Greek myth, the siege of Ilium is said to have lasted a decade.

Ulysses’ gambit with the horse statue sending out a signal driving the people of Ilium mad is pretty obviously a reference to the Trojan Horse - the wooden horse the Greeks built as a “peace offering” to the Trojans that they used to sneak their soldiers into the City and that brought them victory in the war. Like in the UDAD version, Odysseus/Ulysses was apparently responsible for coming up with this plan.

“Olympians”

Ulysses’ wife is named Penelope, same as Odysseus’ wife in the myths

The Acheron is the name of one of the five rivers of Hades, along with Styx, Cocytus, Lethe, and Phlegethon

As a sidenote, in Greek mythology Hades is the name of the underworld as well as the name of the God of the dead - fittingly enough reimagined in UDAD as the controller of a vast network of half-dead minds (and also Ashes)

The most powerful families in the City are called the Olympians - the name given to the twelve most important deities in the Greek pantheon

Poseidon Industries is named for Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and one of the twelve Olympians. Jonny calls them “one of the architects of the Ilium War”, which seems like an odd reference since iirc Poseidon doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the Trojan War. I guess that’s just there to give Ulysses a reason to want to rob Poseidon Industries.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon hates Odysseus/Ulysses for attacking his son, a cyclops called Polyphemus. In UDAD this is changed to Ulysses stealing the diamond from Poseidon Industries’ laser, which is also called The Cyclops.

My Name is No One

The song’s title and chorus is a reference to Odysseus’ famous trick for escaping the Polyphemus’ cave. He tells the Polyphemus his name is “no one/nobody” (depending on the translation) so that when he attacks Polyphemus and the cyclops tries to call for help, he calls out “No one is attacking me” which obviously none of the other cyclopes take seriously. (There’s also a great pun in the original Greek based on the Greek words for “no one” and “cunning” being very similar, but it loses a lot in translation)

However, just like in UDAD, Odysseus messes up this plan badly by calling out his real name when he’s still too close to the island of the cyclops. (although in the Odyssey it’s motivated by him wanting Polyphemus to know his name so he can get glory, rather than just being drunk)

Odysseus bests the cyclops by taking out his eye (there’s debate around it but cyclopes are generally depicted as having only one eye). Obviously in UDAD the cyclops is a machine not a monster, so this is replaced with the diamond at the heart of the laser being called its “eye”.

Also, I’m not sure if this is an intentional reference, but there is a fun irony to the fact that in the Odyssey, Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by getting him drunk so he can then blind him, while in UDAD Ulysses steals the eye of the Cyclops while drunk themself.

“Trial By Wits”

As well as My Name is No One, the whole concept of no one knowing anything about Ulysses’ appearance, gender etc. could also be seen as a reference to the “My name is nobody” trick, or possibly just a spin on Odysseus being a kind of “archetypal hero” - they could be anyone!

Heracles is better known by his Latin name, Hercules (son of Zeus, demigod, inhumanly strong and all that jazz)!

Ariadne is the name of the Cretan princess who helped Theseus slay the minotaur

Orpheus is another of the most well-known Greek mythological figures - the main myth surrounding him says he went into the underworld to rescue his dead wife Eurydice

Oedipus is most famous as the main character of a famous tragedy. His parents are given a prophecy that he would kill his father and have sex with his mother, and so decided to abandon him. As is so often the case with Greek oracles, he ended up doing both things anyway, seeing as how he, y’know, didn’t know who his parents were. The mechs apparently chose to reference this in the most mature of ways by having Jonny call Oedipus a motherfucker. Kind of a lot.

Aside from committing both patricide and incest, Oedipus’ other achievements in myth included winning a battle of wits against the Sphinx, a monster that was killing anyone who couldn’t solve its riddle. This monster is reimagined in UDAD as a disease that Oedipus finds a cure for.

Riddle of the Sphinx

The chorus of the song is taken almost word-for-word from the riddle asked of Oedipus by the Sphinx: “What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” The answer to the riddle is “man” - crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane (third leg) in old age. The Mechs being the Mechs, this is made completely literal in the world of UDAD.

“Ulysses’ Will”

Like the Oedipus of myth, UDAD Oedipus also ends up killing his father and marrying his mother without knowing. Since he’s replaced his eyes with data sockets by the time he helps kidnap Ulysses, it’s pretty strongly implied that he blinded himself like mythological Oedipus as well.

The “twenty years of sirens” could be a reference to the twenty years Odysseus spends away from Ithaca in the Iliad and Odyssey

Sirens

The sirens were half-bird half-human creatures that Odysseus encountered as part of the Odyssey and that tried to lure him to his death with promises of knowledge.

As well as referencing this story, the line “let the lotus set you free” references another episode of the Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew arrive on the island of the Lotus-Eaters. Anyone who eats the Lotus fruits falls into a state of apathy and will never want to leave the island, so it’s a fitting episode to reference in a song about Ulysses drugging themself to escape their memories of war.

“Trial By Strength”

Heracles’ backstory is essentially the same in UDAD as in the original myths: one of the many children of Zeus’ many affairs, except in UDAD Zeus has affairs with women from “the lower levels”, instead of just mortal women.

Favoured Son

The tasks Heracles performs for Zeus are a reference to the most famous myth about Heracles - the twelve labours he performs to atone for killing his family.

The song references “the ferryman” who takes people into the Underworld. In Greek mythology the dead travel to the Underworld in a boat rowed by the ferryman Charon.

In both the myth and in UDAD there are...what you might you might call “extenuating circumstances” for Heracles killing his family - in the myth he’s driven mad by Zeus’ wife Hera (bc she’s very angy about Zeus having all those bastard children with mortal women) but since Hera doesn’t play a role in UDAD this is changed to him being framed by Zeus himself.

In addition to being king of the gods, Zeus is also the god of thunder - which is where Heracles’ nickname “The Thunderbolt of Zeus” comes from

“Loose Threads”

Heracles and Orpheus “Backing up Jason on the fleece job” is a reference to the myth of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece along with his crew (the Argonauts), which included Heracles and Orpheus.

Hylas was Heracles’ servant and another member of the Argonauts. While on the quest he was kidnapped by nymphs, and depending on which version of the myth you’re looking at, either fell in love with them and stayed there forever, or was murdered by them (Hylas is also the only character referenced I had to google to even know who they were lol)

Heracles telling Ariadne that “Your dad helped me out once” is presumably a reference to the seventh labour of Heracles: capturing the Cretan bull. Now the story of the Cretan bull is actually really long and ties into a bunch of other myths but essentially it was sent to Ariadne’s father, King Minos, as proof that he was the rightful ruler of Crete. However, Minos ended up helping Heracles by letting him take the bull with him to prove that he’d successfully caught it (which seeing as the bull was destroying Crete at that point doesn’t seem like a huge favour on Minos’ part, but ok)

Trial By Song

UDAD Orpheus shares the mythical Orpheus’ main defining trait: his skill at singing that he used to help him on his journey to the underworld.

Trial By Song is a lot more metaphorical than all the others so there’s not that many direct references to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the lyrics - probably the most direct one is “But all the landmarks moved as I walked past/Now I can’t look back”, which references Orpheus’ deal with Hades that he can take Eurydice back to the world of the living as long as he doesn’t look back at her.

“The viper town that bled me dry” could also be a reference to Eurydice’s death from a snake bite.

“Hades”

UDAD Orpheus’ motivation is the same as mythical Orpheus - wanting to bring back their dead lover from Hades.

Ulysses, Heracles, and Orpheus all visiting the “underworld” is taken directly from mythology (although unlike in UDAD, Ulysses/Odysseus never actually speaks to Hades).

Underworld Blues

In Heracles’ confrontation with Hades, he says that “I was sent here your dog to seize/Of my tasks, of my tasks/This was to be the last”. There’s a couple of points here - the mythology reference is to the last of the twelve labours of Hercules: capturing Hades’ guard dog Cerberus. However, I do wonder whether this is meant to be literal (in which case guys, why are we not talking about the fact that Ashes obtained a pet dog while in The City?), or if this is a similar case to all the mentions of ‘horses’ in High Noon Over Camelot actually being about motorbikes.

Orpheus singing to Hades and trying to convince them to release Eurydice is also taken directly from Greek myth, except instead of being moved by Orpheus’ song and agreeing to release his love like in the myth, Ashes just tells him he’s poor for a bit and then says he should go commit some crimes.

“Trial By Love”:

The general concept of Ariadne’s backstory - her helping Theseus fight the minotaur only for him to abandon her - is the same basic idea as the myth of Ariadne and Theseus. Although UDAD Ariadne is at least a bit more fortunate in the sense that she wasn’t truly in love with her Theseus, and he also doesn’t straight up leave her on a deserted island.

Ariadne’s family creating the minotaur is also part of her character in the myth. The difference is that in UDAD the minotaur was created intentionally, while the mythological minotaur was the result of Poseidon making Ariadne’s mother fall in love with the Cretan Bull as punishment for King Minos not sacrificing it to him (I said the Cretan Bull story tied into a bunch of other myths!)

The presence of the minotaur in the City is yet another thing that makes even more sense when we learn about the City originally being called Labyrinth!

Ties That Bind

Ariadne’s family name is Minos, same as the name of her mythical father King Minos.

Ariadne describes her family’s actions as casting a “dark horned shadow” over her, which references the typical depiction of the minotaur as a man with a bull’s head and horns.

In the myth of the Minotaur, Ariadne helps Theseus by giving him a ball of string that he then unwinds as he walks through the Labyrinth, letting him find his way out again. In UDAD this is changed to “strings of code”, that shut down the minotaurs programming. (And if you think that pun’s bad, just wait until we get to Torn Suits!)

The song’s title also brings to mind string or thread, so it can be seen as a subtler reference to Ariadne’s gift to Theseus. Same for Ariadne’s line about “heartstrings long since cut”.

“The Daidala”

Daedalus, the leader of the Suits, shares a name with the mythical craftsman and father of Icarus

He is rumoured to “trade as an Olympian under the name Hephaestus” - a fitting alias as Hephaestus was the god of craftsmen and artisans like Daedalus

The rumour that he killed his son for “getting too ambitious” references the myth of Icarus, who famously died after literally flying too close to the sun using wings held together with wax. The heat of the sun caused the wax to melt and Icarus to fall into the sea. The story is often interpreted as a warning about the dangers of ambition.

Interestingly, it could also reference another myth surrounding Daedalus - one in which Daedalus kills his nephew Talos because he was jealous of his achievements.

Daedalus is also apparently the architect of The City, which was originally known as Labyrinth. This once again references the labyrinth which held the minotaur, and which Minos forced Daedalus to design. Considering the labyrinth’s purpose in myth, it seems like an appropriate name for a city that keeps all its inhabitants trapped with no way out.

Presumably the Daidala in the title refers to the City: Daedalus’ finest creation. In Homeric Greek, daidala is a word that refers to finely crafted objects such as armour.

This track also has another reference to the Orpheus and Eurydice myth when Orpehus offers to sacrifice himself to open the vault - “But he can’t see it through can he? Flinches, looks back. And it doesn’t work.”

Torn Suits

This song is notable for having quite possibly the worst pun in Mechanisms history - “Ulysses pulls out their snub-nosed laser and fires the last shot, splitting the beam across twelve axes”. This references one of the climactic scenes of the Odyssey, where Ulysses/Odysseus wins an archery competition against his wife’s suitors by shooting an arrow through twelve axe heads. (get it, axes as in the weapons becomes axes as in the plural of axis do you get it?????)

Another, marginally less bad pun is Heracles getting “the lion’s share” of the beams, referencing the popular image of Heracles wearing the skin of a lion he killed as one of his labours.

“Sunrise”

The code to Ulysses’ vault: Elysium, is another word for the Elysian Fields. In certain Greek religions, this was an afterlife separate from Hades’ world where heroes and those chosen by the gods would go after they died.

Ulysses’ vault is revealed to contain the “sole surviving oak tree”, under which Penelope is buried. While it’s not as direct a reference as some of the others, this is pretty clearly inspired by the way Odysseus proves his true identity to Penelope at the end of the Odyssey - by telling her that he carved their bed from a tree still rooted to the ground, something only the two of them know.

The track ends with an homage to Homer’s use of similes in the Odyssey: “And as the weary hound, once more at its master’s feet after so long, lays down with the sunlight warming its fur, breathing its last – even so did the eyes of Ulysses close forever.” Not only is this stylistically identical to Homer’s similes, it also doubles as a reference to Odysseus’ dog Argos, who waited for him for twenty years and finally died when he saw Odysseus again.

Elysian Fields

This is possibly a bit of a stretch but the image of Ulysses lying beneath the last tree, next to where Penelope is buried, especially with how they say they’re “with my beloved” and “beside my wife” really brings to mind the scene in the Odyssey where Odysseus and Penelope lie in their tree-bed together for the first time since Odysseus’ return. Which, incidentally, is theorised by some to be the “real” final scene of the Odyssey and everything after that was added on later, but that’s another story.

That’s everything I’ve picked up on but it’s possible there’s more I’ve missed so let me know if there’s any more! I’d like to thank the Mechs for giving me an opportunity to put my useless and extremely niche knowledge to good use!

[reasonableapproximation]

Hector and Aeneas want to steal the horses, but that's the last I remember the horses getting mentioned so far.

Tug of war for Patroclus' body. The Greeks are losing. There's a fog and Meneleus prays to Zeus who lifts it (whoever said nothing can change Zeus' mind really has egg on his face), and then Meneleus sends someone running back to Achilles to tell him the news. Meneleus and someone else carry the body while Ajax and Ajax protect them from Hector and the others.

(I remember in the translator's notes she said something about how corpses aren't referred to as corpses, like instead of "Patroclus' body" we'd just get reference to "Patroclus". But both the narrator and characters are indeed referring to Patroclus' body. Maybe I misremembered? Maybe she changed that in translation for some reason?)

Achilles has figured out that Patroclus has gone and done the thing he told him not to do, that he was previously sure he would not do, and is likely dead. Then the messenger arrives and confirms this. He gets upset and rolls around in the dirt and covers his face in ash and so on. The women that he and Patroclus captured and enslaved are upset too.

(This isn't a case of, like, the text calling them "servant girls" or some euphemism and me unpacking that to "oh you mean the girls they captured and enslaved?" The "captured and enslaved" detail is explicitly mentioned in the text at this point. Also, aside: according to the translator's notes, there's no evidence in the text that the two were lovers, but people have been assuming it since just a few hundred years later.)

Thetis comes to comfort him and lears the news, and now she's upset too because he's never going to come home. She tells him not to go fight yet because he doesn't have his weapons or armor, she'll get Hephaestus to make him some.

I think around now the Greeks get Patroclus back to the wall. Iris tells Achilles to go fight, he says his mom told him not to, she tells him to go climb up on the wall and yell to scare the Trojans. He does and it does, and Hera convinces the sun god to go away even though he's not tired yet.

One of the Trojans says they should go back into Troy, but Hector doesn't like that plan. Zeus and Hera are still bickering, I forget why.

Thetis goes to Hephaestus, who's making tripods (still don't know what these are) and also has slaves who look and act like women except they're made of gold. He's pleased to see her, she hasn't visited him at home before. Their backstory is that he got thrown a long way down (from Olympus?) and mortally wounded (apparently that's a thing deathless gods can be?) and Thetis and someone else cared for him.

Anyway, she tells him what's going on and he makes Achilles a really good shield. It's got everything. It has constellations, and two cities, and farmland, and a river, and an incredible amount of backstory for all the scenes depicted. Also a breastplate and a helmet.

What I remember of The Iliad so far

(Emily Wilson's translation, listening to the audiobook so I can't easily look things up. I could check against wikipedia but it's more fun not to.)

A priest of Apollo is sad that the Greeks have his daughter and asks for her back with threats and maybe also bribes. Most of the Greeks want to give her back but Agamennon is like nah fuck off. He fucks off and prays and Apollo starts shooting them with arrows, these particular arrows are disease so they start getting sick.

Achilles is like "geez Ag, give the girl back already". Agamennon: "fine but I'm taking this other girl you've kidnapped instead". Achilles objects because she's hot and Agamennon gets all the best prizes. He gets close to drawing his sword on Agamennon but Athena tells him not to.

Odysseus goes and sails off and returns that girl and they sacrifice a hecatomb with the people they're returning it to, they eat and drink and be merry and I guess Apollo stops shooting them with disease arrows.

(Wilson talks about how she tried very hard to use language that would be familiar to modern readers, and then uses words like "hecatomb" which I had to look up, and "argive" which I eventually realized probably means "from Argos". Also: apparently they ate their sacrifices? That makes a lot of sense in terms of not wasting food.)

So instead he goes and sulks, and prays to his mother Thetis. He wants the Greeks to start losing without him. She says she'll talk to Zeus. She does that and the gods squabble a lot. It seems Zeus likes Troy but Hera really doesn't for some reason? She tells Zeus he can sack three of her most favorite cities if he lets her sack Troy. No idea why she hates it so much.

Anyway Zeus tells someone to give Agamennon a dream where if the Greeks attack that day they'll win glorious victory. That person gives Agamennon a dream where if the Greeks attack that day they'll win glorious victory. Agamennon wakes up and describes a dream he had where if the Greeks attack that day they'll win glorious victory. The same dream is described three times over, I guess Homer was paid by the word.

So the Greeks line up and we get backstory on all of the leaders and how many ships they brought, but I think no mention of how many men they brought. The author says in the notes why she likes these lists, I just found it boring. I think there was one for the Trojans and their allies too?

(Aside, the logistics of this war are a mystery to me. It's been going... maybe not ten years yet but I think at least seven? How many combatants on each side? How many of them have died? Where are the Greeks getting food? Where are they getting all the animals they sacrifice?)

They fight, which is described like: Diomedes stabbed (name) in the chest. He was from (town) and had once (random piece of backstory), and he died. (Name) was killed by Diomedes, who stabbed in the throat; his wife and children would never see him again. Then Diomedes stabbed (name) in the thigh,

Anyway Diomedes is amassing a kill count but Paris challenges someone to single combat, whoever loses their side will give up. I have a feeling it's Meneleus he fights. Meneleus is winning but then a god teleports Paris back to his bedchamber. So the Greeks have won but then a god convinces one of the Trojans to shoot Diomedes, it hits him in the thigh and it all begins again.

Athena tells Diomedes to go on a rampage, he'll be fine, just don't fight any gods except Aphrodite. So he does that, and he encounters Aphrodite and injures her, and some other god has to come save her from the battlefield. Then he encounters some other god, maybe Ares, and doesn't fight him.

(The gods' powers are not at all clear to me.)

(Maybe it was during this rampage or maybe some other time, Diomedes encounters someone who for some reason tells Diomedes his backstory, and Diomedes is like "bro, your father was my father's guest at some point! You should totes come over some time after all this! Let's swap armor!" So that's a thing they do instead of fighting.)

I think there's some more godly bickering at this point, and then Hector comes out to fight and Zeus is slinging thunderbolts at the Greeks from Mount Ida, having told the others that he's the strongest god and they can't stop him even if they all band together, which Athena and Hera get mad at. Or maybe he's mad at them. Or both.

So now the Greeks are losing, Hector kills lots of them and then challenges one of them to single combat. No one wants to accept because they'll lose but someone tells them off and then some of them do, and Ajax fights him. Ajax seems like he's actually winning but then Apollo talks to Athena and Hera and they agree to break things off, so that fight stops? And Ajax is sad because now he thinks he could have won.

I've lost track of when this happened, but at some point the Greeks built a wall to protect themselves. Poseidon gets pissy because it's better than the Trojan walls that he helped with, but man, if they can out-build you in a few hours you maybe didn't do a great job. But Zeus says when they go he can tear it down so fine.

Fighting is happening and the Greeks are losing, and one of them says "there's nothing we can do, nothing can change Zeus's mind", and then a bit later someone prays and changes Zeus's mind a bit.

And I think around now night falls and they settle down.

All the greeks are asleep except Agamennon who is thinking about what to do. He runs into Meneleus who wasn't asleep either. They agree to wake others and talk. Nestor also wasn't asleep, and scolds Meneleus to Agamennon for sleeping but Agamennon defends him because no! Meneleus was not asleep!

They agree that they need Achilles. Agamennon sends some of them to talk to him, and tell him that if he'll come back to fighting, Agamennon will give him twenty cauldrons, and twelve tripods (no idea what these are in context), and seven race horses whose winnings alone would make a man rich, and seven Lesbians, and the girl he took back at the beginning whom Agamennon swears he has not slept with as would have been normal, and three towns, and one of his daughters in marriage with no need for Apollo to pay bride price.

So they go and tell Achilles that if he'll come back to fighting, Agamennon will give him twenty cauldrons, and twelve tripods, and seven race horses whose winnings alone would make a man rich, and seven Lesbians, and the girl he took back at the beginning whom Agamennon swears he has not slept with as would have been normal, and three towns, and one of his daughters in marriage with no need for Apollo to pay bride price.

And Achilles is like yeah but I gotta be honest, I'm pissed so I'm not gonna fight for you. I'm just gonna sail off in the morning. Phoenix, you can stay and come with me if you want. Phoenix is old and scared and once got in a fight with his father over a prostitute (whom his mother had him sleep with so that she wouldn't want to sleep with his father any more), so his father cursed him not to have kids of his own, so he raised Achilles like a son, so he's tempted to leave with him. He stays overnight.

That plan is sunk. So Diomedes and Odysseus go do some spying. At the same time, someone goes to spy on the Greeks in exchange for a promise from Hector for all sorts of rewards. But Diomedes and Odysseus capture him, and get him to tell them the layout of the Trojans and their allies, and then kill him. And they go to the furthest allied encampment and kill a bunch of dudes and steal their horses and come back.

And I think that's as far as I've got so far. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff. Notably I know that Helen (remember Helen? this is a war about Helen) appears a few times, I just don't remember when. I don't remember if we quite find out what she thinks of this whole business. I'm pretty sure she loves her father in law, but I think maybe she wants the Greeks to win, but maybe also likes Paris when he's heroic and fighting the Greeks and looks down on him when he's cowardly? Super not confident.

[arcane-ish]

@embershroud108

Re: Medea

Hah, I was considering bringing up Medea as another fave but I consider her behavior borderline self defense 😉 respectively very clear in the "not responsible for her actions due to madness". Basically Medea to me just so obviously gets screwed over by everyone? And contributes relatively little to her own downfall? She is like closer to Ophelia than Hamlet in my recollection when it comes to personal responsibility in "she goes mad at the end because she was fucked over so much" rather than "her fucking people over while mad is the plot" or "she goes mad because she fucked people over".

And it's been a long time since I read the Iliad but doesn't Achilles have more of that kind of "attack dog" style respect rather than more traditional "nobility" as such? Or am I confusing the source material with that meh Brad Pitt movie LOL

That movie sure was shitty. Again, My Iliad was a long time ago as well and I might be confusing some of it with the non-licenced sequels like Penthesilea by Kleist, but I feel like there’s a fair amount of “random sub boss/Trojan ally warriors shows up, fights with Achilles and everybody is all impressed and noble duel like”? 

Plus I think with in the “cast” of the Illiad I think there are just other characters that are more cast as the dumb brute? (just like others are “the old wise man” and “the smart one”) I don’t feel like Achilles being particularly violent in combat was that much of topic? (like outside of avenging his boyfriend which I would say is basically within his downfall arc) Like obviously he murders a fuckton of people but I don’t think that that is considered a negative by the story/he is not much more violent than the other warriors and it wouldn’t have hurt his reputation within the Greeks. Like it feels like there are about half a dozen different “and then x pissed off the gods because they slaughtered a priest’s family”. 

From my memory isn’t more traditional Illiad discourse about whether it was morally okay of him to disobey his general/leave his team hanging when he is quarrelling with Agamemmnon over loot?  

Imo Achilles is clearly exalted, he’s the subject of a prophecy, multiple people bend over to get him/protect him, the whole war stops more than once based on his availability, he is clearly by everybody to be understood as the best at what he does. 

I always got more a haughty/prideful vibe from Achilles than a violent one (that’s why he thinks he deserves arguing with his boss over loot). 

Sadly the idea came to be really late, but imo Anakin Skywalker is a really interesting case for tragic hero/anti hero/sympathetic villain. 

He clearly is respected/exalted, basically object of a prophecy, special abilities beyond everybody else, respected as a “General Skywalker”, beautiful princess wife who loves him. 

Arguably brought down by honorable intentions (wanting to save his wife). 

Both negative (anger, violence, hides his forbidden relationship, cocky) and positive traits (generally a good fighter, generally tries to be a good friend, loves his wife genuinely). 

And of course redeems in the end to some extent. (but still pays with death)

I still feel that while he has the personality traits of a tragic hero, I wouldn’t say that Star Wars 1-6 feels necessarily like a clean cut tragic hero story, I would say middle ground between sympathetic villain origin story and tragic hero? 

I think it structurally doesn’t feel like a pure tragic hero tale because he has Obiwan as like his co-lead. And imo Obiwan works as a counter argument to Anakin, he shows that you can not give into evil (yes even with the stipulation that Obiwan does not share Anakin’s backstory of growing up as a slave and losing his mother). And by comparison the Shakespearen plays feel a lot more locked into the POV of their protag and the progression hence feels more on rails. 

(actually, I do not think that Vi serves as Jinx’s Obiwan in that regard, because imo Jinx’s and Vi’s stories are quite different/have different topics and destinations? While Obiwan and Anakin are in very similar situation as Jedis and go through similar or even the same adventures but the outcomes are different. Like if both Vi and Jinx had been raised by different evil overlords and Vi had resisted and Jinx hadn’t (speaking of which “the hero’s dark mirror” is imo another category of sympathetic evil doers that I do not think amount to them being tragic heroes even if their whole point is how similar they are to the hero, but their purpose within the story is mostly contrast and reflect the hero rather than to be their own story and entity) 

btw I think Scarlett O’Hara is an excellent example of hero vs villain making no sense. Is she a hero? imo no way. Is she a villain? Also not really. She is above all the protagonist. 

[palmett-hoes]

jewish jeremy knox???

damn this is a good take. hadn't thought about it but this is so good. esp with rromani jean moreau. jewish/rromani solidarity is 👍

but like also,, just on his own, jeremy knox is such a good jewish character. captain sunshine really embodies like,, gemilut hasidim, tzedakah, tikkun olam,, which are all very jewish but not the things most people associate with judaism

now imagine,, kevin day (+ neil and andrew, obviously) goes to visit USC. he's gonna check up on jean, get the low down on the Trojan's drills, maybe do a little recruiting at some LA high schools.

oh, and

🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️hang out with jeremy knox♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰

no biggie

now kevin is PSYCHED. it's just gonna be him, 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰, and the three surliest assholes known to man. kevin is going to look like a goddamn SAINT next to them

so they get there and it's a shitshow, immediately. jean and andrew are circling each other like alley cats about to brawl. neil's trying to prevent a fight but he can't actually look at jean and that's making the whole situation worse. then, the tension is stressing neil out, and when neil gets stressed he gets mean

so basically everything is going according to plan and kevin is foaming at the mouth to be a good polite boy who 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 will like

now 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 is going over some potential plans for while they're in town to get the most out of their visit, like "... on Thursday we're having a morning practice 😁 if you guys wanna come watch 😁 or join 😁 whatever you want 😁 you're totally welcome 😁 then that night we can go to Santa Monica Pier 😁 get some food 😁 go on some rides 😁 walk along the beach 😁"

(what kevin wouldn't give to hold 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's hand and walk along the beach go for a manly run across the beach with 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 at sunset)

"nothing's scheduled for friday 😁 so we can just walk around the city 😁 maybe do some shopping 😁 i'm gonna have to dip early tho 😁 i like to go to friday night shabbat when we don't have games-"

and neil kinda mumbles, "i haven't been to synagogue in years" in his voice that means he's thinking about his traumatic backstory or whatever. kevin doesn't care right now, neil, he's just trying to learn more about 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's calf workout

only 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 stops in his tracks and shrieks " OHMIGOSH YOU'RE JEWISH TOO!!! you HAVE to come with me!!! i'll introduce you to my rabbi!!! she's the sweetest!!! oh it'll be so much fun!!!!!!!!!!"

and neil's got that look on his face that means someone's doing something nice for him and he's really grateful but he doesn't know how to express it and instead just says "that'd be,, really nice, jeremy... thank you" all sincere and cute and sad with his big dumb eyes and he doesn't even know he's doing it but kevin's seen this before and he KNOWS this means he's about to lose 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 to neil for the entire trip

which leaves him,,

with jean and andrew,,

who are going to start a knife fight with each other as soon as they're out of neil's direct line of sight

😰

he's gotta find a way out of this, he doesn't wanna be turned into minced meat in the crossfire

he coughs. "so what about the rest of us-"

and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 cuts him off, "oh don't worry about it 😁 jean can show you two around 😁 he knows all the best spots in the city by now 😁"

not. good.

kevin tries again. "are you sure you don't want us to tag along?" meaning 'please for the love of god don't leave me alone with them'

but 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 doesn't seem to notice this and just says, "that's sweet kevin 😁 but neil-io here and i will be fine on our own 😁 and we wouldn't want to bore you 😁"

so the next day just feels like a count down to war. for kevin at least.

🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 has latched onto neil and they're having a grand old time. neil's telling him about some of the old jewish towns and synagogues he saw in europe, 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's bringing neil up to date on some of the intricacies of the newer branches like reform and humanistic, etc. bc neil's parents were both from more conservative roots. and kevin is biting his nails at the rising storm cloud behind them, where andrew and jean are tailing them, silent, eyeing each other, waiting for the opportunity to strike

finally it's late Friday afternoon. they're in jean and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰's room, and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 and neil are getting ready to head out. kevin has tried every method in the book to tag along, and been stopped at every junction. finally neil just gave him A Glare™️ that scared him back into a corner and at that point he gave up and accepted his fate

so neil and 🥰👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨♥️ jeremy ♥️👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥰 wave goodbye, shut the door, and immediately from behind him kevin hears andrew say, "so let's talk about the nest..."

😶

he's going to die

[bonsaiiiiiii]

100 Weird AU's? Yes.

So, I had these AU prompts on my phone for quite a while, and I was actually thinking about using them. And what better way to do it than using them with the Tracy's?

Reading and reading these prompts again (and under the gentle guidance of @willow-salix ) I thought that these prompts doesn't exactly match the brothers' everyday situation, but what if we push it past its limit? Yes, biting more that you can chew can be a little difficult, but I don't think it will be impossible. And that's where this challenge is born!

Get the Tracy's out of International Rescue's bubble and let them live an everyday situation as normal people! They can also be medieval nobles or even futuristic robots, the choice's up to you! You can choose from soo many things others don't even think about (and not even me, for a while)!

Many thanks to @tag2060 for the cover and @willow-salix for the support (both emotional and 'fic-ical'. I love both of you💚

NOTE: THESE PROMPTS AREN'T ALL MINE. I TOOK THEM FROM A GIRL I'M NOT IN CONTACT WITH ANYMORE, BUT I WAS TOLD I COULD USE THEM. ALL CREDITS FOR THESE AU'S GO TO HER, WHATEVER IS HER NAME (lmao). THE GOLD MARKED ONES (7, 11, 20, 23, 39, 47, 63, 64, 70, 83, 89, 91, 93, 96, 100) ARE ALL MINE, IN SUBSITUTION OF A FEW THAT WERE THERE, SO CREDIT FOR THE GOLDEN MARKED ONES GOES TO ME, BUT NOT EVERY ONE OF THEM.

NOTE²: SOME OF THE PROMPTS CONTAIN STRONG THEMES, LIKE DEPRESSION AND SEXUAL CONTENT. IF YOU'RE SENSIBLE TO THESE THEMES, DON'T DO THEM, NOBODY FORCES YOU IF YOU DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ:･ﾟ✧(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ:･ﾟ✧(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

To participate in this challenge, all you have to do is take one of the AU prompts from the list, one or more (or all) Tracy characters, and post your fic (can be a ficlet, or a series) under the tag #100weirdTracys and #100weirdAUs.

If you don't want to participate, please don't harass/bully me. I made this challenge just for fun, and I don't want for it to feel like something bad. In fact, I don't even regret doing this thing, even if it's strange.

Ah, I almost forgot: this challenge will be over in December, so you have 4 months to choose a prompt and make a fic about it. On December I'll review all the fics, but I'll always be reblogging and reading during these 4 months lol.

If you want to tell me something, hit me up on DM's! I hope you have fun with those prompts and those bois!

(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ

TO RESUME:

• Swearing is allowed.

• You can write as many words as you want!

• Oc's and muses can pop in too!

• Make sure to tag your fic(s) under the '#100weirdTracys' and '#100weirdAUs' tags, so that I can find them easily.

• Always tag or contact me if you need help with anything! I'll be more than glad to help you!

• If you decide to do the mature prompts (19, 90, just to state an example) please refrain from using a too mature language and don't go further than making up. I don't like that kind of language, so it would be peachy to just avoid writing so they make wild sex behind a bush. Any kind of very mature fic or language won't be read by me, I'm sorry. You can still use those prompts, but don't work their bed life too much.

• Any dialect or first language apart from english is more than welcome in this yard! I would love even to read snippets of foreign language in fics, as long as there's a translation near it, but you're not forced to write in another language. If you don't feel comfortable doing it just don't do it, even if I'm telling you. (For the record, I love Irish so much I could listen to a person speaking this language for hours and you won't hear me complaining).

• I will accept this challenge in whatever form it takes, be it a fic, a drawing, a song, etc. I’m open to anything and I watch everything that comes before me!

φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)__φ(．．)

That said, you can find the prompts down here:⬇️

 #1 I saved you from drowning!AU

#2 I broke into your house at two in the morning because I was drunk and I thought it was my house!AU

#3 I am a door-to-door seller please buy something!AU

#4 I grabbed the wrong luggage at the airport!AU

#5 I know we hate each other, but a wedding would be more convenient for both of us!AU

#6 I accidentally poured you a love potion!AU

#7 I sent you 12 messages but you left me on read!AU

#8 I am your secret admirer and I leave you anonymous cards!AU

#9 Sorry, but I was first in line!AU

#10 We don’t know each other but let's pretend to be together because someone is bothering me!AU

#11 We pack up to do a funny trip but we end up in Bolivia without fuel!AU

#12 Locked in quarantine and we're bored! AU

#13 I do everything to find out the identity of this superhero and you try to mislead me because it’s really you!AU

#14 I got into a taxi just to find out it was already occupied!AU

#15 I called the wrong number!AU

#16 I got into the wrong car OMG I'm ashamed, but while you’re there why don’t you give me a ride!AU

#17 I found a wallet and my business is to find the owner and return it!AU

#18 I am a street artist and you complain that I play in front of your house at night!AU

#19 I caught you watching porn!AU

#20 We're two strangers that start chatting while waiting for the bus!AU

#21 Nosy and sloppy roommates!AU

#22 Old childhood friends who come back after years!AU

#23 I got shot to the arm/leg but you're there to save me and OMG ILY!AU

#24 We’re sitting next to each other on a plane and please don’t throw up on me!AU

#25 We accidentally switched phones!AU

#26 We are both contestants in a reality show and let's pretend to be together because the audience will ship us!AU

#27 I am a wedding planner and my ex’s wedding had to happen to me!AU

#28 I learned sign language to communicate with you!AU

#29 Professional model and novice photographer!AU

#30 Sorry I ran you over!AU

#31 We make out and then I find out that you are my roommate’s boyfriend!AU

#32 I’m quoting aloud the last book of a series and I’m spoiling you!AU

#33 It is a universally acknowledged truth that a bachelor with a large fortune must be looking for a wife!AU

#34 I am a Partisan and you are a fascist!AU(Italy during World War II!AU)

#35 I am the blood of the dragon!AU (Iron Throne!AU)

#36 Your dog is hitting on mine!AU

#37 I’m depressed and I decide to call a hotline!AU

#38 You are my soulmate but I am in love with someone else!AU

#39 Strange encounter at tattoo shop!AU

#40 On my mark, unleash hell!AU(Roman Empire!AU)

#41 I am an Elf, don’t look at me for ears I am ashamed of!AU(The Lord of the Rings!AU)

#42 Maybe my life should be more than just survival!AU(The 100!AU)

#43 I am an activist and I am trying to convert you to the cause!AU

#44 We are occupying the school but you are a spoilsport!AU

#45 All our friends are drunk and we're not!AU

#46 We’ve been together for three months and now you’re telling me you’re a werewolf!AU

#47 X has to go into a rocket to the moon and Y has to train X!

#48 Knight in shining armor and damsel in distress!AU

#49 We reluctantly team up against the zombie apocalypse!AU

#50 I’m a vampire and your smell is driving me nuts!AU(Twilight!AU)

#51 Monsters have attacked the Earth and the only way to save humanity is aboard giant robots piloted by two people who must maintain a mental union!AU(Pacific Rim!AU)

#52 My timer stopped as soon as I saw you!AU(Soulmate!AU)

#53 I need a lawyer and you are the best!AU

#54 I’m a Viking and I plundered your ship!AU

#55 I’m a classic dandy from the Regency Age and you’re just a silly girl from the lower middle class!AU

#56 I’m a policeman and you’re an intrusive journalist and I really shouldn’t give you any information about the new murder!AU

#57 You are a wannabe actress and I am a theatrical director who is losing patience and health!AU

#58 Due to a computer error, X and Y become college roommates!AU

#59 X wants to see the world of Y, how he lives and what he usually does, and ends up spending a night in prison!AU

#60 I attend the yoga course just to watch how flexible the instructor is!AU

#61 I am a bounty hunter and you are my prey!AU

#62 I am a secret spy and pretend to be your friend only to get information about your father!AU

#63 I discuss with you about a thing but you have in mind another!AU

#64 We are forced to be best friends just because our moms were best friends too but you're too bossy for me!AU

#65 We broke up but I never changed emergency contacts and now I’m in the hospital and they called you!AU

#66 I am an angel and you are a demon!AU

#67 I hit you on the balls during a game of paintball and oh my god I am so sorry!AU

#68 We live in a dystopian world where your partner is chosen by society!AU(Matched!AU)

#69 I’m a dragon trainer I’ll prove to you that they are peaceful creatures!AU(Dragon Trainer!AU)

#70 Date at japanese restaurant!AU

#71 You’re a cheerleader and I’m a punk and we live in two different worlds!AU

#72 I was a zombie and I was "re-animated" but you treat me like I’m still a monster!AU(In the Flesh!AU)

#73 I am your son’s teacher and I am calling to talk to you about his conduct, would he also come to dinner with me!AU

#74 I am an Achaean warrior and you Trojan and we are fighting the Trojan War!AU

#75 I met my asshole boss at the bar but I found out he’s pretty cool!AU

#76 It was not my intention to touch your ass, it’s just that the bus is crowded, it’s not my fault ok!AU

#77 I went fishing and accidentally fished a mermaid!AU

#78 I just committed a crime and I need to use you as a hostage!AU

#79 You’re the bastard who always parks in front of my door and in spite I’ll scratch your car!AU

#80 I accidentally went back in time and fell in love with you, too bad you’re a barbarian!AU

#81 I urgently need you to fix my computer but please don’t judge me for my chronology!AU

#82 I work on the cruise ship where you are spending your holidays!AU

#83 I'm out in the rainstorm without an umbrella because the weather forecast was sunny!AU

#84 I hugged the wrong person from behind!AU

#85 Celebrity on the run and ordinary citizen confused!AU

#86 Stuck in a ranch cleaning horse poop but it doesn’t matter because that cowboy is a badass!AU

#87 We got married in Vegas, but we’re total strangers!AU

#88 But, officer, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was just smoking a joint, want a hit!AU

#89 X is an astronaut and Y is a weird but funny alien that likes to scream, overreact and laugh!AU

#90 I slept with you for a bet but I loved it and I’d like to keep seeing you!AU

#91 I reveal to some friends that you wear boxers/underwear with green aliens on them but you're behind me and oh gosh total shame!AU

#92 Oops I accidentally entered a busy dressing room!AU

#93 You're a stranger but I keep crossing paths with you and I'm kinda confused right now!AU

#94 X is a medium and Y a ghost!AU

#95 X is a guardian angel and Y wants to die!AU

#96 X accidentally enters in a cat and Y has to rescue it from up a tree!AU

#97 X risks losing the house because Y’s company wants to buy the land!AU

#98 I’m an artist and I need a model do you want to pose for me!AU

#99 I’m not really sick but the new doctor is so beautiful that I found out I have a disease with an unpronounceable name!AU

#100 A strange job application!AU

φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)__φ(．．)

If you find them more practical, I also have some photos down here with all the prompts organized:⬇️

That said, enjoy! Hope it brings you joy and makes you happy while you do it!💙💚🧡💛❤💜💖🖤

[365days365movies]

March 9, 2021: Orpheus (1950) (Part One)

Greek mythology was my first mythological love.

And yes, that is ironically a very cliché thing to say about Greek mythology, since it’s by FAR the most popular and well-known mythology in the Western world, but...what can I say, I’m a sucker for the classics.

When I was 6, my mom got me a copy of the Odyssey, followed by D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, and that book was my SHIIIIIIIIIIT. From the Titanomachy to the Trojan War, from Decaulion to Daedalus, from the Lernaean Hydra to Ladon, and from Zeus to Dionysus (my second favorite Olympian), I LOVE Greek mythology.

There have been countless adaptations of these stories over the last century of so, some better and more faithful than others. We got Blood of Zeus (which I...genuinely dislike) on Netflix last year, Lore Olympus is a fantastic webcomic and modernized retelling of the universe of stories in general (fuck Apollo, that’s all I have to say), Hercules by Disney is fun (though extraordinarily inaccurate), and who doesn’t like some Percy Jackson (the books, not the movies)?

Today’s entry won’t be the first of the Greek mythology stories this month; after all, it’s DEFINITELY fantasy, so there were going to be a few entries in here. Some will come pretty close to each other later this month, but for this one, we’re jumping forward 10 years from The Thief of Bagdad to 1950. Let’s get back to France, shall we?

Famous for his adaptation of Beauty and the Beast is Jean Cocteau, legendary French surrealist filmmaker. His stylings definitely capture a sort of practical magic, compounded with clever angles and fascinating visual and practical effects. It’s evident with the classic fairy tale, which I would’ve done this month had I not already seen it. So, instead, we’ll be looking at the middle film in a trilogy known as Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy. This is, apparently, the most important one. And that makes sense, since it’s focused upon...

Is Hadestown good? I’m real tempted to find a way to watch it, and it sounds like it’s just up my alley. I’ll probably check it out one of these days.

Orpheus was (maybe) the son of Calliope, the muse of poetry, and Apollo, god of music. Maybe. Parentage differs based on the retelling. No matter the parents, he was renowned for his charm and grace, as well as his voice and music. He was loved by animals, nymphs, and maidens alike. He was invited to be the Bard of Jason’s DnD group (AKA the Argonauts), and used Bardic Performance to inspire his comrades (and also helped them overcome the sirens by singing EVEN LOUDER).

But the one whom he loved most was his wife, Eurydice. Unfortunately, a satyr (AKA horny horned half-goat man) chased her right into a viper’s nest, where she was bitten and died. Orpheus was CRUSHED, and his song was so depressing that even the gods cried. They said, “Dude, go to the Underworld, get back your lady from Hades, please!” And he did.

Hades, the old romantic that he secretly is, agrees to let Eurydice’s soul, on one condition. That he doesn’t look back at her as she follows him out. Orpheus agrees, but the man can’t stop himself from looking back to make sure that she’s there. And she was...and then she wasn’t. So, our sad boi fucked up, and then...well, it’s spotty. 

See, some people say that he stopped worshipping Dionysus (his previous patron), and the wine boi’s female followers tore Orpheus to pieces as punishment. Some say that these same women got a liiiiiiiiiittle too into the Bacchanalia (think orgies, but religious and violent), and ripped him apart in a frenzy. And some say that he only took male lover from then on, and women tore him to pieces for not paying attention to them (also, possible homophobia). You know, it varies. Still, we can agree on the ripped apart by women thing. His head could still sing, and as the women threw his body parts into a river, it sang a song so beautiful that the rocks and branches in the river refused to strike it. His instrument of choice, a lyre, was eventually interred amongst the stars as the constellation Lyra.

The story of a pained artist searching for a lost love and losing her is all over the goddamn place, with the crazy-ass Moulin Rouge being a solid example of it.

But OK, let’s finally begin Orpheus, or Orphée to be more accurate. Gonna be a weird ride, I guarantee it. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

The story starts with a recap of the original myth, and notes that it doesn’t need to be limited  by time and place. This sort of story, after all, could happen anywhere and at any time. And in this case, that time and place are 1950s-era France, where we quickly meet famous poet Orpheus (Jean Marais).

At a café, he meets a friend, the Editor (Henri Crémieux), where they speak on Orpheus’ fame, which is not well-liked in a cafe frequented by poets. Also arriving there is a young drunken poet, Jacques Cégeste (Édouard Dermit), who is accompanied by his patron, known only as...the Princess (María Casares). Come on, guys, can we give our female characters names, please?

Anyway, Jacques quickly gets into a drunken brawl with other patrons, which leads to the arrival of the police at the café. They forcefully arrest him, but before they can, he’s hit by a couple of motorcycles, and potentially killed. The police bring Jacques back to the Princess’ car, with the help of her driver Heurtebise (François Périer). For unknown reasons, she summons Orpheus to help them. He agrees, and goes with them to the hospital.

Or he would be, if they were going there. Instead, as they drive off, Orpheus discovers that Jacques is dead already. They aren’t going to the hospital. Instead, they head to a mysterious mansion, as ominous and oblique poetry plays on the radio. They’re soon accompanied by the men on the motorcycles that killed Jacques, who work for the Princess. The plot fuckin’ THICKENS.

Back at her mansion, they bring the body of Jacques upstairs, much to the confusion of Orpheus, whom the Princess keeps calling stupid whenever he asks questions. However, he’s not proving her wrong, as she immediately convinces him that she’s actually dreaming at the moment. Although...maybe he is?

She sits in front of a mirror, which breaks...somehow. Frustrated, she commands Orpheus to wait there for her to return, as she goes to check on Jacques and her men. Like me, Orpheus is confused. This gets worse for me, though, as the Princess goes to the other room and tells the dead Jacques to get up. AND HE DOES. Well, Jacques’ a zombie, I guess. He identifies the Princess as “his Death”, which she agrees to. She tells him to hold on to her coat, and then...

...I got questions. I GOT QUESTIONS HERE.

They go through the mirror, and the Princess’ henchmen follow, just as Orpheus walks in. He also has questions, and he tries to go through the mirror, to no avail. Completely confused at this point, he passes out against the mirror, alone in the mansion. And then...he’s outside.

Yeah, he’s just outside now, and waiting there is Heurtebise, the chauffeur! Orpheus is freakin’ out, and Heurtebise has no answers for him, but has been told to take him back to town once he...arrived. OK. Still questions.

In town, the disappearance of Orpheus is being discussed by a police inspector, his wife Eurydice (Marie Déa), and her friend Aglaonice (Juliette Gréco). Aglaonice doesn’t seem to like Orpheus very much, as she’s trying to convince Eurydice that he’s cheating on her. And that’s hard to argue, since he was last seen with the Princess. However, just as there’s about to be a scandal reported by a spontaneously appearing journalist, Heurtebise and Orpheus arrive home.

After a rough encounter with the journalist, he arrives home to a relieved Eurydice, and an enraged Aglaonice, whom Orpheus also dislikes heavily. He’s apparently forbidden her from entering his house, and tells her off. The Inspector leaves too, and asks Orpheus to come to his office to discuss the matter of the missing Jacques.

Eurydice reminds Orpheus that Aglaonice is dangerous, as she runs...the League of Women. Well...I think we know what role Aglaonice is going to play by the end of this. Her and her League of Bacchanalian Women, get me? Yikes. Anyway, the conversation turns into an argument, when the EXTREMELY ornery Orpheus basically just storms off, being a DICK to his poor wife. And when he goes upstairs to his room, he actually sneaks out of the window.

Meanwhile, Heurtebise comes into the house to offer an alibi to the pained Eurydice. While she doesn’t quite believe it, the two share some time together and seem to bond. However, when he smells gas from the stove, Heurtebise lets it slip that he committed suicide by using a gas stove. He covers it up before Eurydice notices the slip-up, but...OK. So, “the Princess” is death. Going by the traditional Greek myth, she’s some form of psychopomp, and the world beyond the mirror is the Underworld, I can only assume. OK...I can dig it.

Orpheus, meanwhile, is at the car, listening to the strange radio poetry and writing it down. The, uh, “Princess” is busy as well. Like a ghost, she walks into the household and watches Orpheus as he sleeps. A narration refers to her as Orpheus’ death. Funny, I’m pretty sure that’s going to be Aglaonice’s role.

Two days later, Orpheus is increasingly obsessed with the poetry from the mysterious radio and its odd messages. While Eurydice seems to mock this obsession, Orpheus also seems to be far too enraptured in it. But, interestingly, the messages seem to be coming from nowhere known. However, it’s all beginning to affect their marriage greatly.

On the phone, the Inspector comes calling, and Eurydice asks Heurtebise to answer the phone. He does so, and soon after, we see the phone float into place, as if placed there by a ghost. That’s confirmed as Heurtebise phases to the outside from nothing, where he meets Orpheus and informs him of the message. The two decide to head to the Inspector in his car, rather than the mysterious talking car.

While Orpheus goes through town, looking for the Princess rather than the Inspector, there’s something that I wanted to mention here. Call it an interpretation. Apparently, Heurtebise is often considered an angel by critics and interpreters. However, I’m gonna suggest that he’s actually supposed to be a representation of Hermes, the messenger god and a psychopomp who escorted souls to the Underworld. Not sure about the Princess yet, but Cocteau apparently never meant for her to be portrayed as actual death. Interesting.

Meanwhile, at the Inspector’s office, both Aglaonice and Orpheus’ poet friends (supposedly) are accusing Orpheus of being involved in Jacques’ disappearance. The Inspector turns them away, just as Heurtebise and Orpheus reconvene in town. While Orpheus didn’t find the Princess, Heurtebise says that she came by, saying that he could stay with the married couple for now.

Speaking of the Princess, we see her at night, staring over Orpheus. And her eyes are...strange. They seem artificial, and it bothers the EVER-LOVING SHIT out of me. And the whole affair isn’t helping Eurydice either, as she’s tired of Orpheus’ obsession with the car, and is planning on going to Aglaonice for advice. Heurtebise tries to stop her from doing so, but she insists. But when she goes...the motorcyclists come for her. And she’s dead. As proven when the Princess arrives through the mirror.

Alongside her comes Jacques, acting as the Princess’ servant. She notes to him that their work isn’t easy, and couldn’t be done if she were dressed in the way the humans portray her. So, she is seemingly Death, or at least an aspect of Death. Obviously, as we’re talking about the Greek story, we can assume that she’s meant to be Hades in particular. But, we’ll see. It’s also confirmed, by the way, that the mysterious messages are indeed Jacques’ poetry, recited by him on the radio waves from beyond the grave. Neat.

Heurtebise is clearly upset with what’s just happened to Eurydice. He asks if the Princess actually had orders to kill Eurydice. She avoids the question, and guesses correctly that Heurtebise has fallen in love with Eurydice. He confirms this, and counters with the fact that the Princess has seemingly fallen in love with ORPHEUS. The plot fucking THICKENS.

Good place to pause, I think. Halfway mark and all. See you in Part Two!

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

Been sitting on this for awhile, I think it still needs some polishing and I haven’t settled on my design ideas yet (I need to pick a face-claim/potential VA/figure out some armor references if I want to draw him) but ya know what I think we need? Some more Greek heroes. I love me some Greek heroes. Here’s a Memnon profile for ya:

MEMNON PROFILE

5*

Rider (B/AAA/Q)

Origin: Greek Mythology / Africa

Brynhildr’s Beloved / Sky / Lawful Good / Greek Mythology Male

Passive Skills:

Divinity B

Affection of the Goddess

Riding B

Active Skills:

General’s Honor – Increases party’s attack, star generation, and NP damage (three turns).

-          When introduced to King Priam, the leader of Troy loudly proclaimed that Memnon will be their savior. Memnon merely smiled, and said that his strength would be obvious on the battlefield, but it would be impolite to boast at dinner. A mighty general who was admired by all his men and feared by all his enemies.

Affection of the Divine (A) – Grants guts to self (one time, five turns), raises attack and defense and apply ignore invincible (three turns).

-          Raised by nymphs at the shores of Okeanos, doted on by his divine mother, admired by Zeus and Hephaestus for his combat prowess. Rarely has a man ever walked the Earth who has been so blessed.

Proof of Immortality (B) – Charges NP gauge (20-50 percent), gains critical stars (10-30), gain de-buff immunity (one time, three turns).

-          Though his story is lost, the mark of his legend is felt across the world. It is said that his blood gathered in a river upon his death, and every year on the anniversary of his slaying, the river smells of blood. Memnon, unlike Achilles, does not draw power when he is present in his homeland, as his tale is lost to history. However, he can draw on this power instead, a manifestation of proof that he lived and was considered a hero.

Noble Phantasm: Chariot of the Rising Dawn. (Buster). Chance to inflict burn (apples to all enemies), deal heavy damage to a single enemy. Apply Burning Field to the surroundings after taking effect.

-          Invokes the protection and power of his mother, Eos, the primordial dawn goddess. Memnon has access to her chariot, which is pulled by two horses, Firebright and Daybright. Setting a trail of fire and sparks, he charges towards the enemy, leaving chaos in his wake.

-          Because Memnon prefers single combat and dueling, this works as a Single Target Noble Phantasm. The burn, however, is applied to all targets.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction: The hero always arrives at the last minute… or, so they say. I am Rider, Memnon. Please allow me to serve as your defender.

Profile One: The rival of Achilles, who was summoned from Aethiopia after Hektor’s death to participate in the defense of Troy. The son of a primordial dawn goddess, a humble and great leader who inspired countless men. His tale is lost to history with all but a few fragments remaining, so much of his life is a mystery.

Line One: If you wish to rest, please do so mindfully. The battle will begin again when the sun rises.

Line Two: The relationship of a Master and a Servant is simple enough to understand. I was a general, so the chain of command is nothing new.

Line Three: You are still young. Please allow me to advise you in combat. If necessary, I shall take the lead myself. Leave everything to me.

Likes: Hmm… I suppose my hobbies are making music and gardening. Why, is that strange? I was raised by nymphs, you know.

Dislikes: Things that I hate… I’d have to think about it. I’m sure that there are things I dislike but nothing comes immediately to mind.

Holy Grail: A wish-granting device is certainly interesting. Would it be selfish to…? Never mind. I’ll have to think about what I could wish for.

Event: A new battle begins. Remember your obligations!

Birthday: The day of your birth is cause for celebration. May the gods bless you on this day/

Character Interactions:

Penthesilea: Ah, the Queen of the Amazons. It was a great honor to serve alongside her. Her prowess in battle is like none I’d ever seen. She’s really amazing. You know, she used to wear a decorated helmet that obscured her face… well, when it came off in the middle of combat, Achilles stopped what he was doing and just stood there! She nearly took off his head! Can you imagine, the great Achean, standing there looking like…? [clears throat] I mean, of course, I’m glad I got to witness such a glorious exchange. A battle between two warriors of that caliber is a rare thing.

Hektor: Hektor. It is a shame that we never met in life! I’m honored to be fight alongside – oh, no thank you. I don’t smoke.

Paris: … I’m a bit worried. They say Apollo is a great god, but this is…

Artemis: Ah, the goddess of the moon! My mother spoke of you often. I am truly blessed to meet you. Strangely… you remind me of… Oh, never mind.

Achilles: Yes, I remember him quite well. I don’t have any grudges. Zeus blessed our battle, and it was an exhilarating fight. I’m honored to have been able to cross blades with someone like him. Though… I do wonder if it’s alright to speak to him. I suppose, in his position, it’s possible… Perhaps if I offered to duel him once again, he would forgive me! Yes, I shall do that.

Queen of Sheba: I have traveled through many lands, but there is something about you that is familiar. Please tell me more about your kingdom – I would like to hear of it, even though we were not alive in the same era. Hmm? What do you mean, knowledge costs extra? Is this some kind of border tax?

Iskandar: You want to hear about Okeanos? I’m happy to tell you - but I’m afraid it’s not very exciting. I was raised there, you see, so a lot of my stories involve me doing chores and... oh? You still want to know? Very well.

Scheherazade: A woman who collects stories. I wonder... Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing. Never mind.

Nordic Heroes: They seem to be looking at me. I wonder – do they know something about me that I don’t? Is there something on my face?”

Profile Two / Bond One: “Are you comfortable? How may I assist you?”

The story goes that after Hektor’s death, King Priam of Troy summoned an army from a distant land. Alongside the Queen of the Amazons, Penthesilea, Memnon sailed to Troy from Aethiopia, to defend the besieged city from the wrath of Achilles.

Profile Three / Bond Two: “A lost hero, you say…? Well, it can’t be helped. “

Where Hektor was Achilles’s great enemy, it’s more accurate to say that Memnon was his rival. Memnon was also the son of a goddess, and had many powers that made him equal Achilles in combat. The Greeks feared him and his army. However…

Profile Four / Bond Three: “Yes, my mother is the goddess of the dawn. I even had relatives in the royal family at Troy, but I was raised by the Hesperides on the shores of Okeanos. Yes, it’s a real place. I’m serious. Perhaps one day, you will be able to reach it.”

Zeus was impressed by Achilles’s strength, but also favored Memnon. It is said that he blessed their battle, making them tireless, and the god of the forge, Hephaestus, had also given both of the heroes indestructible armor.

The written text of this story is lost, except for all but a few sentence fragments. The glorious final battle of Troy faded into myth, and then nothingness. Though many writers carried on describing Memnon’s legacy and fame, his shining hour was eclipsed by time.

Profile Five / Bond Four: “I was given many blessings from the gods. I would not say I have any regrets about how I lived my life. After all, if there is even one person who remembers that I lived…”

After the death of Achilles’s most beloved partner, Patroclus, the hero was inconsolable, and it seemed that he would lose the will to fight. However, Antilochos - the youth who cared for his horses and occasionally helped Achilles steer his chariot in combat - cheered him up and convinced him to continue living. Later, during a battle, Memnon struck Antilochos down, forcing the hero of the Acheans to grieve yet another loved one.

Profile Six / Bond Five: “I would like to tell you a story. It’s a great tale about a man who travels the world from end to end. Would you care for tea? It’s a bit long, so we may be here for awhile.”

Not long after Memnon’s death, the Trojan War ended, and a new tale began. It’s said that his mother wept inconsolably at her son’s death, and so Zeus granted Memnon immortality.

The ancient world of Northern Africa was said to have many statues of Memnon, marking the places where he had stayed or traveled to. These too are now lost.

However, despite all odds, the enduring soul of Memnon remains alive in human memory. It is for this reason that he can be called from the Throne of Heroes.

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Personal Notes:

He’s BAAAQ with a single target buster because I wanted him to stand out from other Five Star Riders, basically, and the weird mechanic thing with burns is just something I think would be Neat because again I have no clue how a lot of the funky mini-mechanical technic-stuff works in FGO even after a year of playing. But like, if Space Ishtar can change her NP Card-type, then Memnon can have a single target NP that de-buffs all enemies.

So basically, he’s one of Penthesilea’s allies/an ally of Troy. He and Penth terrify the Greeks, at first Achilles is distracted by the hot new Amazon and his cute new rebound boy (I’m not a fan of Antilochos just like, on principle because this is a Patrolcus stanning household, but oh well), but then he eventually gets his act together and while he defeats Penth, Memnon winds up killing Antilochos. This leads Achilles to going on another rampage, and slays Memnon in the process. And after this, Paris (a known fool and idiot) finally asks Apollo for help in killing Achilles, leading to the end of the Trojan war.

There seems to be sources about Memnon that show he was well-known in the ancient world as a mythological figure (writers such as Herodotus reference him in their works/tales about Africa and he was probably memorialized in statues in various temples) but the primary text (the lost epic detailing the end of the Trojan War: Aethiopis) is basically gone. Which is a shame, because he’s a fascinating character - a true foil to Achilles in almost every way.

So basically, IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE.

Obviously because I’ve been deep in Achilles Loving Hell, I’ve been deep-diving into the lore, and even though there isn’t a lot to go on, the things I do find are rich and juicy. I imagine Memnon to be a bit older and wiser than Achilles (probably has a beard tbh, but not like a bushy beard) and a bit more relaxed. The guy was raised by nymphs and was basically nice to everyone, so it seemed. Memnon is not the type to go berserk in combat, but he also doesn’t hold back when it comes to beating your ass. There’s a sweet spot between Hektor “I Suppress All Emotions and Only Strategize” style of fighting and Achilles “I Am Strong and Fast and Have a Lot of Feelings so Fuck You” style of fighting, and Memnon is probably riiiight in there, crunching on some golden apples that his mom gave him for a snack.

(There’s also apparently a weird and funky piece of very obscure and maybe fake lore which states that Memnon might related by blood to Thor, which idk how true that is but I think it’d be hilarious to include.)

[ofmenoetius]

✖ ▒ OH, WHAT A COINCIDENCE! i was just thinking of [ PATROCLUS SON OF MENOETIUS ]. most swear their resemblance to [ SEAN TEALE ] is unmistakable, but he has / they have been around since the [ BRONZE AGE ]. it is rumoured that the [ DEMIBOY ] was born in [ OPUS ] in the year [ 1205 BC ], even though they don’t look a day over [ THIRTY ]. what a shame, though: they were once famed for being [ HONEST ] and [ PASSIONATE ] ; yet now, they seem more and more [ RESERVED ] and [ MERCURIAL ]. but while [ PATROCLUS ] spends their days working as a [ HARPIST FOR THE LONDINIUM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ], they are already notorious around town for [ UNSENT LOVE LETTERS ADDRESSED TO NO ONE ; BANDAGED FINGERS AND CALLOUSED HANDS ; A BEAT UP OLD FLIP PHONE ; THE FAINT SCENT OF COFFEE AND CARDAMOM ]. when you live forever, you might as well make the most of it. 

hi, hello –– i’m bella + also the worst !! this is my baby patroclus who’s one part powerpuff girl, two parts physical embodiment of the eyeroll, and generally just has really bad frown lines from being in a Bad Mood for like thousands of years or whatever. ( will not get botox sadly, someone convince him ) anyway –– i am here for every single plot of every single kind !! just like this and / or hmu on discord @ halaldaddy#3725 !!

TASK ONE : THE RUNDOWN

▼ STATISTICS.

full name: patroclus, son of menoetius.

moniker / nickname: officially goes by patrick in 2020, and he has the fake ids to prove it. generally isn’t the biggest fan of nicknames. 

titles: tbd.

gender && pronouns: demi-boy && he / him + they / them. 

dob && age: april 24th, 1205 BC && really old –– about 3224 years old, give or take, but he’s been thirty for a really long time. 

place of birth: opus, greece. 

previous residences: opus, athens, larissa, cape town, cardiff, inverness, paris, milan, caracas, && londinium –– in that order. 

zodiac sign: taurus. 

ethnicity: white && venezuelan. 

sexual orientation: demisexual. 

romantic orientation: homoromantic. 

occupational history: perpetual soldier, squire, orange farmer, lutist, revolutionary, boxer, harpist. among others. 

▼ PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

face claim: sean teale.

height: 185 cm && 6′2. 

physical build: mesomorph && visibly muscular && painfully straight back from years of his father’s voice still stuck in his head. ( it’s 2020, maybe he really should go to therapy for his daddy issues, but how do you tell a therapist your dad died before the trojan war ?? asking for a friend. )

eye colour and shape: dark brown && hooded, really long lashes which he does oil at night && also lines his eyes with kohl. it’s habit. 

hair colour and style: dark, cropped, usually trimmed neatly. 

usual expression: bored, reluctant smile.

accent and speech style: heavily accented english, but it’s impossible to pin down where he might be from. speaks spanish and greek with more ease than he does english.

distinguishing marks / characteristics: both ear lobes pierced, gold studs in both. a shield tattooed on his left flank. plenty of scars –– one across his right eyebrow, scarred && calloused hands, a very large scar that refused to heal right on his left shoulder. 

clothing style: anything he can find, really ; athletic for the most part, but smart button-downs ( always button-downs, never button ups ) for work. 

jewellery and accessories: a thin, gold chain around his neck ; his an engraved ring hangs from it, tucked away. a deliberate collection of rings on his fingers: a curved edge, yellow gold signet ring from a third-generation foundry in greece ; a classic medusa ring picked up in florence during the renaissance ; a turquoise inlaid silver signet ring ; a silver plated band, worn on his left thumb.

▼ FAMILY.

father: menoetius, deceased ( thank fuck ). 

mother: philomela, deceased. 

siblings, if any: myrto, his sister. 

extended relations: none that he knows. 

significant other(s): achilles && only achilles. it could only ever be achilles.

children: none, except his –– 

household pet(s): he has two tabby cats named menelaus and ajax ( just a little fun joke for himself, okay –– don’t @ him. ) 

▼ FAVOURITES.

colour: gold ; every shade. 

weather: storms –– it reminds him of mornings spent inside, the air sticky and humid, sweat on his upper lip and a laugh on his tongue. 

food item: he’s a vegetarian –– he always has been, especially since he didn’t always have food, especially during the 1100s. so yeah, patroclus isn’t exactly picky –– anything veg and vaguely edible’s fine –– but he does love a vegan burger ( normal cheese, please ). the perks of the 21st century. okay, and he loves green olives. 

beverage: he’s a stereotype, he loves red wine. ( fine, he hates wine –– he likes tequila. )

time of day: late at night, late enough that the streets are quiet and the air feels thin and he can breathe deeply. 

television genre: not that patroclus has time to watch tv –– plus he’s got one of those old picture tube tvs from the dinosaur era –– but he loves a good underwater documentary. and shark week. and the history channel –– he likes to catch what they got wrong. 

favourite era lived: he’d do anything to go back to the day before he died –– anything. to say a proper goodbye, to say all the very many things he’d never said because he thought he had all the time in the world. but also, he really loved the ‘70s in londinium.

▼ PERSONALITY.

hobbies: boxing && reading && falling asleep in the sun. 

pet peeves: people talking in circles && liars. 

phobias: patroclus doesn’t like drowning. he’s died of drowning once && come back from it, but he absolutely hated it. he’ll take anything over it. 

allergies: coffee. which is fine, because patroclus likes green tea anyway. ( well, green tea with like three whole spoonfuls of honey. )

mbti type: isfj – t.

enneagram type: 

35% the challenger.

48% the skeptic.

22% the peacemaker.

positive traits: passionate && honest && loyal && dependable.

negative traits: reserved && mercurial && blunt && pessimistic && headstrong && forlorn.

morning routine: goes for a run every morning before dawn, goes to a boxing class, has breakfast at the bookshop on the way home, and gets to work at least an hour early. it’s boring and it’s too familiar and patroclus wouldn’t change it –– he’d rather have predictable than the alternative. he’s tired of losing people and places and old routines, so he’s holding on to this one until he has to move again in another twenty years.

beauty routine: nothing really ; patroclus keeps his beard neat and his hair trimmed. he oils and curls his lashes, oils his beard. he misses baths –– big baths that you could sit in and just stay in until you pruned. but he only has a shower in his apartment now. 

sleeping habits: patroclus hasn’t slept through the night since before his first death ; nowadays, it’s a few hours of sleep at a time, and plenty of nightmares to keep him company. the good thing is, he’s very used to waking up early –– rather than tossing and turning or watching his ceiling until dawn, he’s up and out of bed. 

oldest belonging: he doesn’t have anything –– nothing. patroclus always leaves things behind, always. it’s easier that way. and sure, he regrets it sometimes. but there’s no use crying over the past, right? not when he has an endless future. 

living space && home: it’s small –– it’s really small. but it has bay windows, a shitty little terrace with doors that the wind knocks open, and plants everywhere. there’s a kingsize mattress on the ground, one set of sheets total and they’re made of cotton-silk. orange, of course.  

INTRODUCTION : tw death ; tw war .

his childhood wasn’t pretty. patroclus was born too skinny, too weak –– maybe not sickly, but he wasn’t wanted. he wasn’t loved. he was born into a war, and his war was his father. his war was his father’s shame. so when he killed another by accident –– in anger, in frustration, by mistake –– his father was more than happy to ship him off ; and somehow, that was the greatest gift his father could have ever given him. thanks, dad. 

it’s been so long, everything feels like a dream. it feels too sunlit and too warm to the touch. it feels too easy. and sure, he can’t remember all that much about it. but he remembers achilles. he remembers being so happy that he felt sick to his stomach. but he doesn’t remember hector’s knife in his stomach or dying that very first time. but he remembers waking up to hades in the underworld, and he remembers the sickening realisation that he could never go back ever again –– he was here, and he was alive, and he still had to leave everything he once knew behind. 

patroclus didn’t want money or fame ; he’d only ever wanted a love to call his own and a place to call his home. and since he’d lost both already, he was tired. so he went off to work on an orange farm, right at the edge of the world –– or well, the edge of his world. he was still in greece, news travelling to them every few months or years, and it was alright. he was away from the rest of the world, labouring under the cruel sun and sleeping into the cool night, and waking up to do it all over again. he smiled at the kids on his way into town and gave them an armful of oranges each. and then when people began to wonder whywhywhy he wasn’t aging, patroclus moved on to the next village –– and then the next, and then the next. 

it was 1465 + he was in florence when he saw a lute again –– a laugh escaping him before he could start to remember when he last laughed out loud. it reminded him of home, of a long time ago. so he began to play for money and food and a place to stay. and it took him all over the world –– meeting people who’d die before he’d reach his next destination and learning things he’d never be able to forget. 

going to war became a habit. the crusades, the gallic wars, the jacobite rising, the war of the roses, the french revolution, the seven weeks war, world war i, the russian revolution, world war ii, and so very many more –– patroclus wasn’t really fighting, but he was trying. he was trying to make sure some good came out of them, that there was some death that he could stop, some blows he could take if it meant another lived. but at some point, he just couldn’t keep doing it anymore. his heart hurt and his nightmares followed him in the daylight. 

now, well –– he’s a harpist for the londinium symphony. patroclus has been her for all of about 12 years now ; he doesn’t want to move, not yet. but throughout his many, many lifetimes, he’s perfected and loved the harp –– it’s the only thing he recognises in this brave new world, and he’s going to hang onto it for as long as he can. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

survival of the stubborn: a mentor, someone patroclus met after a long, long time of being immortal, but someone who taught him to stop being completely miserable and enjoy the time they have. if it wasn’t for this person, patroclus probably wouldn’t have lasted all that long.

death becomes you: immortal friends ; the gang, the squad. the ride or dies –– so to speak. they can go decades without talking or meeting, but they get together again every fifty years and know they can rely on each other. plus, they can literally whatsapp each other now –– like, what. 

orange you glad to see me: he worked on an orange farm in greece after their first death in about 1200 BC, and met this person there. maybe this person owned the farm, maybe this person was just a guest of the owners, maybe they also worked on the farm, or maybe they just met each other in the village nearby –– but they met again years and years and years later and it was a lowkey lightbulb moment of oh, so i’m not alone out here for patroclus !! 

please turn the music off: musician friends + members of the orchestra ( mortal or immortal ) + anyone who’s into music and they might have met each other over the years !! perhaps a mentor or maybe they even totally hate each other, but just about any type of music relation !!

encore, encore: patroclus worked / played in a few different courts over the years –– always the lute or harp –– so this might be someone he might have played for !! 

tequila’s my best friend: drinking buddies !! what it says on the tin. patroclus is a miserable drinker, usually ends up spilling all of his secrets, sometimes ends up breaking things. 

the war followed me back home: patroclus served in plenty of wars until 1950 –– far too many, with new names and new titles and new ranks every time. to do some good in the world. or maybe they were just chasing their first death at hector’s hands. either way –– this is someone they might have served with !! could be a commanding officer ; a fellow soldier ; or even a doctor / nurse !!

old enemies, new friends: people he just doesn’t get along with. at all. ever. they’re always hated each other, maybe they even killed each other a few times, but just some sort of enemies !!

more to be added !!

[timcurlyshepard]

The Outsiders ships as Mythological romance stories?

ooh this is an interesting one and took me a little while:

Dallas and Johnny

Achilles and Patroclus. This is a romance story, historians agree, don’t test me. Patroclus, who dies in Achilles’ name in battle, fighting a war for him. Achilles, who finishes said war for his lost love, his anger bringing victory to Greece. Dallas, dying in a sort of battle after losing Johnny, who died trying to be a hero.

Soda and Sandy

Orpheus and Eurydice. “Miserable Orpheus who, turning to look at his Eurydice, beholds her for the first time as well as the last.” Honestly one of the original iconically tragic love stories. Orpheus tried to save Eurydice from the underworld, and to do so he had been told that he may not look at her until they have made their way back to land of the living. But, of course, he so desperately wants to see her and looks back, causing her to disappear. I see Sandy and Soda in this, Soda desperately trying to love and longing for this woman, only to hold her too close and look at her so long that she disappears on him.

Soda and Steve

Helen and Paris. Two young lovers willing to runaway together and start a war over love. Helen leaves her husband Menelaus after falling for Paris, starting the Trojan War. They’re completely in love, then a bunch of stuff happens and in the end they realize that they must go their separate ways (well, Helen goes her separate way back to her husband, Paris just dies). I see Steve and Soda in them, young and in love and making rash decisions for each other. But in the end, they’ll have to go their separate ways, maybe to other people and maybe just to different lives.

Ponyboy and Johnny

Artemis and Orion. Another tragedy (the Greeks sure do love those). Artemis is a young goddess who vows to never marry, Orion a strong hunter and son of Poseidon. They meet and become good friends, he joins the hunters of Artemis, both falling in love quickly. But, tragedy befalls them when Artemis is tricked by her brother Apollo into killing Orion, not knowing it was him that she was shooting at. When she realizes what has happened, she turns Orion into a star constellation, so he can watch over her forever. This reminds me of the ship of Johnny and Pony simply because it’s two young lovers that are destined to come together only to fall apart. The death of one leads the other to look to them as a watcher and guide in life.

Ponyboy and Curly

Odysseus and Calypso. Yes yes, he was cheating on his wife with her, ignoring that it’s a tragic love story. See, Calypso is cursed to live alone on an island, her only company being men who wash up on shore. These men though, they are always people that she will fall completely in love with, but cannot stay with her. So, Odysseus washes up, falls in love, stays for a few years, but must get back to his wife and kingdom (this is after the Trojan War). I see Pony and Curly in them because although they may fall in love, I think they both know it can’t last and they can’t really ever be together. They come from different worlds and have other responsibilities they have to get back to.

Cherry and Bob

Apollo and Hyacinth. Apollo and Hyacinth were lovers, but a jealous Zephyr wanted Hyacinth all to himself and winds up killing Hyacinth with a discus out of spite. Apollo, heartbroken over losing his love, turned him into the beautiful flower we now know as Hyacinths. Some say that the speckles on the flower comes from Apollo’s tears mixing with his spilled blood. This reminds me of Cherry and Bob because after losing him, I can see Cherry trying to keep any sort of piece of him close. It’s about memorializing your lost love, and I think Cherry tries to keep the good memories of Bob alive, like when she insists that he wasn’t all bad and could be very sweet.

[streets-in-paradise]

Fictional Sibling relationships i live for

I had been thinking about this topic lately and decided i would like to make a post about it because it is a very fun and interesting one for me. I had mentioned a few times here that in terms of fandom involvement i am more invested in family and frienships than in shippings, particulary i have a fixation with strong sibling bonds or sibling like friendships. I think it must be because i have a strong bond with my younger sister, i identify with that and that’s why i tend to get more involved and interested in this sort of character interactions. 

I will keep this just in movies, movie adaptations of books and tv shows because i don’t want it to be super long but still want to talk. In movie adaptations i will try to stay in movie’s territory as much as i can, if i add commentary on the book versions this would never end but i may slip a bit towards it because i can’t help it. 

As always, i make the disclaimer over the images i will use here, they belong to the sites where i found them.  

Sorry for my pathetic language skills in english. 

Note: this got so long that i will probably make a second part for more characters i coulnd’t include 

Boromir and Faramir in lotr 

Lotr is full of great material for people who, like me, obsess over families. Frodo and Bilbo, Merry and Pippin, Elrond and Arwen, Theoden ,Eowyn and Eomer are other great examples of family relationships i’m interested on from here ( i pretty much love to overthink stuff about almost all the lotr family relationships). I choose to talk about this bros because they have a particular place in my heart. How many times we had seen the common trope of a royal or noble family where the father is a dick who gives all his love and attention to the older brother, neglects the little one causing him to grow up resentfull and ending up as a villian while dad’s favourite is the hero of the tale? Not this time, and it is so refreshing. 

Boromir and Faramir choose each other over their father’s bullshit, you can see it in the lovely deleted scene the gif up here comes from. When Denethor shows up they are both annoyed, when he is mean to Faramir Boromir calls him out and tries so hard to make him show some appreciation for his youngest son. it is clear that, in this version, Boromir is more family to Faramir than his father ever was. I love how much they care for each other, how they pass beyond the differences. Boromir is a super amazing big bro, i love how he protects Faramir and is there for him instead of letting his father’s praise get in between. I could talk for hours about this two because i love them so much. I’m doing a hard effort in stopping myself from throwing a whole set of headcanons i have for them so i will stop now before i get too excited. 

Fili and Kili in The Hobbit

Staying in Middle Earth for one more mention i had to talk about this two. Being fully honest, the movies broke my heart because they took the exact opposite way i would had wished for. When they were introduced In An Unexpected Journey this two adorable brothers were one of my favourite aspects of it because i loved their Merry and Pippin like dumb chaotic energy. One of my biggest complains with the Hobbit adaptation is to have shifted the narrative of the strongly family focused story arc of the Line of Durin. Kili’s romance with Tauriel shifted the focus and, in my particular perspective, i hated that because i was already super involved in the family story. Besides from the “I belong with my brother”  iconic line we don’t see much more of Fili and Kili’s bond after the introduction of Tauriel. In fact, Fili loses a lot of his initial screentime in Desolation of Smaug and Battle of the Five Armies.

 I love this two, the relationship with their uncle as it was introduced in the first film and i would had loved to see more of their family dinamic explored. One of my biggest complains, besides from the change of focus on their supposed ending, is that i’m convinced that they should had entered the mountain with the rest of the company. It is such an important moment they would probably waited for since they were children, is the legacy of their family. In short terms, i love them and i would had loved to keep seeing future developments of the Line of Durin story they had in AUJ. 

Hector and Paris in Troy 

This two represent the opposite case. The relationship they have in this movie is very different from the source material but i love the great development it has here. It is outstanding to see the importance the sibling bond has in a movie that is supposed to be about a war caused by a romantic passion. 

The sons of King Priam are absolute opposites. Hector is the embodiment of a true hero, a Steve Rogers of ancient times. His strong caring nature and will to protect everyone reminds me of Boromir as well. Unlike Faramir,Paris is a freaking mess. He is the careless, adventurous and reckless little brother Hector ends up protecting every single time he gets into trouble. I had stated before that i think Paris is a selfish prick but i think that is a slight confussion of mine with the original. This Paris is more a reckless dumbass and, unlike Iliad Paris, his arc in the movie it’s a bit more simpathetic. In this version Helen is trapped in a loveless marriage to an old prick who treats her like trash (in the director’s cut Menelaus jokes about how he only cares for his wife for breeding purposes on a conversation with Hector). I can understand at some point that, if he trully fell in love with her, he felt horrible for letting her stay there as a prisoner of her husband. Going back to the my focus for this talk, i like that the movie had decided to make this two close brothers who actually care for each other despite being absolute opposites instead of two guys who barely know each other, are barely aware of being brothers and share only hatefull interactions. 

Hector’s protectiveness over Paris warms my heart. He had threated him a few times ( director’s cut has the “ i will rip off your pretty face from your pretty skull” excharge. I love that scene), he gets furious at him for his foolishness, they argue but when the time comes he always chooses to protect him. Honestly, that’s such a big bro thing, i can’t help to feel identified. The weight that this relationship has in the development of the story is a surprising thing and it makes everything more tragic. Paris being the killer of Achilles has a more significant meaning because, now it’s not just the irony of the weakest character killing the strongest. Paris is aware that he owns the memory of his fallen brother so much, he wants revenge. Hector was there for him all his life, the least he can do for him is to kill his killer and avenge his death. Briseis begs him to stop but he can’t let himself do that, he owns it to Hector and that debt is bigger than anything. 

I will not delay this any longer, the family relationships on this movie are my favourite aspect of it and i have a soft spot for the bond between the trojan princes. Don’t get surprised if i one of this days i end up making an entire separate post talking about the family dinamics displayed in the film (same goes for lotr but that would take me ages and i would have to make an entire series of posts if i wanted to discuss every lotr family relationship i would want to talk about). 

Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural 

If you reached this point you may had noticed that i have a big thing with family tragedies involving siblings. Supernatural is my favourite show because it combines lots of elements i love. To mention just a few: horror, mythology,classic rock and a strong family approach in its pretty tragic but outstanding plot. 

Sam and Dean are one of my favourite duo of bros of all time. I don’t think i have a lot to say about them because their relationship has been analized lots of times by the very big fanbase of the show. My main difference with the common interpretation is that i don’t see the Winchester family in a similar way to the movie versions of the Steward of Gondor and his sons, which means i don’t think John has been the shittiest father ever despite his many mistakes. Unlike movie Denethor he tried hard and in the interactions we saw of him with his boys he actually cares for both of them. 

This bros were the ones that made me realize in an actual concient way of my tendency to get too attached to families, story arcs regarding them and sibling love. I’m super attached to this story, i don’t know what the hell i’m going to do with my life once it ends. 

I will end this post here. It is more than sure that there would be a part two because i have tons of more brothers,sisters and other family relationships to talk about. 

Thanks to everyone who has read my very long ramble 

[redorblue]

Some parallels between Chrisjen and Achilles

(spoilers for season 4)

I was thinking about why they had Arjun teaching the story of Achilles when Chrisjen walked into his class in 4x07 (since his specialty is supposed to be Sufi literature), and I discovered that there are quite a few parallels between Chrisjen and Achilles. I’ve never read the whole Iliad itself, just bits and pieces back in middle school history class, so the fictionalizations are fresher in my mind, but I think they will do for my theory, even though they’re not 100% accurate. 

The most common things people know about Achilles are that 1) he seems invulnerable, even though he isn’t, 2) he’s a very competent warrior, the best of his time, 3) he’s famous and many people take their cues from him, 4) his self-image is strongly influenced by points 1-3, which makes him convinced of his own abilities and opinions to the point of arrogance. You can find all these features in Chrisjen, too. At the start of season 4, it seems impossible both to the audience and to Chrisjen herself that anyone would challenge her for her position, let alone succeed in that. Yet, as the season progresses, she gets hit by events that she couldn’t have seen coming several times, and as a result, she loses the election to Nancy Gao. This happens even though we all know that she’s a very competent leader, and even though Nancy is a formidable opponent, I doubt that she’d have won during calmer times, so I think it’s not hyperbole to say that Chrisjen is Earth’s best politician. Her office, her attitude and her connections (and probably her wardrobe) also give her a lot of exposure and influence over people’s opinions, so that’s another point that fits. As for her complete certainty in her own way of doing things, that’s a character trait she’s had pretty much from the start, and much as I love her, she is very arrogant towards pretty much anyone but Arjun and Bobbie. This is why neither her advisors nor her husband can stop her from getting too caught up in something that she didn’t even want in the first place - both the elections and the office of secretary general - which is exactly what happened to Achilles. He didn’t really care about the whole Trojan War thing either, but once he was there, he slid ever further into this mess, and both his moral compass and innocent civilians suffered because of it. They are both too sure of themselves and the inherent rightness of their actions because they never experienced true failure in the fields that they’re good at, and the more they dig in, the harder it gets to reach them.

This brings me to my second point: Arjun is Chrisjen’s Patroclus. Always by her side, but never in the spotlight, serene enough to weather her storms, competent in his own right, but generally overshadowed by her light. If we stick to the parallel election campaign = Trojan War, in the beginning, Arjun supports Chrisjen 100% and does his best to help her organize a campaign that will win her another term. As time goes on, however, he starts questioning her decisions, her intentions and her methods  because they clash with his own ethics and he feels forced to reevaluate the woman behind them. They reach a breaking point when Chrisjen uses their son’s death to win points for the impending election, which is very similar to how Achilles trades away Patroclus’ friend Briseis because he feels like his honor demands it. They both cross a moral boundary in pursuit of personal power, and as a result, their closest relationship falls apart. Not in an unfixable way, but in fiction, things tend to get in the way of reconciliation. We all know how Patroclus’ story ends, and with Arjun still on Earth and Marco’s rocks on the way, things are not looking good for him either. Besides, both Arjun himself and his relationship to Chrisjen have had way too much screen time this season for me not to smell a rat, and wouldn’t it just be the perfect culmination for the parallel between Chrisjen and Achilles to have their significant other die because their own actions drove them away?